Pushing back against the surge of misinformation online, California will now require all K-12 students to learn media literacy skills — such as recognizing fake news and thinking critically about what they encounter on the internet.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed Assembly Bill 873, which requires the state to add media literacy to curriculum frameworks for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies, rolling out gradually beginning next year. Instead of a stand-alone class, the topic will be woven into existing classes and lessons throughout the school year.
I don’t love that we’re using the term “fake news” which felt popularized by Donald Trump and used as an autoresponse to media he didn’t like, rather than a label for poorly sourced or biased media. That said, super happy to see that this education is happening and hopefully we have a new generation of kids growing up that feel more equipped to use their critical thinking skills when navigating the vast world of information being thrown at them!