CI5472: Entry 2.0 Rationale for Media Studies

As an educator and an educated individual, I am thoroughly surprised whenever there is resistance to the teaching of new material. After all, if the purpose of education is to create citizens who work, live, and question, and grow in our society, should not the content of education grow with the world around it?

Kids need the tools. Our world requires attention to all kinds of media. Employers and clients expect a working knowledge of computer programs ranging from email to simple web design to blogs and wikis to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To deny our students the opportunity to practice with these skills is denying them the tools they will need in a competitive economy after high school.

Media study doesn't interfere with basics. Often, schools are afraid to take on media studies courses or to incorporate new literacies into curriculum for fear that "the basics" will be neglected. However, with 12 years provided to individuals in our public education system, it is doubtful that the basics would be neglected by the addition of a few classes, especially if offered at the secondary level on an elective basis. No advocate of media studies would advocate for books, spelling, or an effective paragraph to be eliminated from language arts education.

Education should be based on brain research. We often forget the important role of student engagement in the learning process. On a chemical level, the brain reacts to novelty in a positive, increasing memory and comprehension. Therefore, it is beneficial for students to receive information in new ways, such as through differing media sources like film, audio, internet, etc.

Diverse media gets students to make high-level connections. Just as with reading a printed text, other channels of communication need to be questioned. But media sources cannot be critiqued in the same manner as text. Like an English teacher may encourage a student to question the voice, perspective, and use of figurative language that an author employs, so do students need instruction on how to critique bias, reliability, and motivation for creators of media. Showing the connections between "reading a text," and "reading media" will show students also how to question and "read" the world around them.

The access issue only encourages media use. Often in discussions of media use, we hear the argument of access work against teachers who assign computer based assignments. This argument can be countered on two fronts. First, we cannot ignore the fact that the average young adult spends 6 1/2 hours with one or more types of media per day, with TV at the top of the list, followed by music, computer, video games, and reading for pleasure. As technology advances, individuals add more time devoted to new media, but not eliminating time from others, often engaging in more than one type of media at one time. So, to ignore media studies is to ignore the majority of communication that happens in the real lives of your students. Second, we must acknowledge the technology gap -- some students have more access and working knowledge of media usage than others. But if we are not teaching these tools in school, we are only widening the gap, creating a larger social problem.