more on Scholastic Rethinks Path to 9/11 Study Guide

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dave Crocker <dhc2 () dcrocker net>
Date: September 9, 2006 8:54:34 AM PDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com, Alice Kehoe <akehoe () zen org>
Subject: Re: [IP] Scholastic Rethinks Path to 9/11 Study Guide
Reply-To: dcrocker () bbiw net



> Rather than washing its hands entirely due to the fallout with  
> former president Clinton, the company will still provide a guide to  
> the show, but will try to incorporate the controversy into the  
> guide by focusing on media literacy, critical thinking, and  
> historical background.
> “After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered  
> online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the  
> materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with  
> controversial issues,” said Scholastic President Dick Robinson on  
> the company's Web site.
> “At the same time, we believe that developing critical thinking and  
> media literacy skills is crucial for students in today’s society in  
> order to participate fully in our democracy and that a program such  
> as ‘The Path to 9/11’ provides a very ‘teachable moment’ for  
> developing these skills at the high school level.


This could be quite a useful exercise.

The effect of propaganda -- material that contains a small amount of  
truth and a great deal of tailored untruth -- is strongly reversed by  
having a credible commentator offer insight about the material while  
it is being watched.

In other words, properly educating the viewer about a distorted  
program, while they are watching it, can result in a strong reaction  
against the program's creators.  In effect it can innoculate viewers  
against the program's creators...

d/
--

  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net



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