The Division Head and coordinator for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Andreas Schleicher has said that children should be taught how to identify fake news in schools. In his own words: 'distinguishing what is true from what is not true is a critical skill today.' This comes after the issue has been in the fore since the US 2016 presidential election, where fake news was in cases quite prevalent. He proposes that this teaching of how to identify news of this nature is something that should be implemented into all lessons rather than it involve the creation of a whole new subject. Not only this, but Schleicher has also expressed his concerns over the echochamber that social media is said to be responsible for creating. Instead of having our views challenged, rather what social media does is just reinforce the ones that we have. With this brings about the 'thinking that there is only one truth and there's only one way to live.' Things like the algorithms behind the networks help underpin this as they formulate avenues for people to find common ground with one another. With this 'global competencies' tests are being put forward for 15-year-olds to sit globally in conjunction with the OECD's current reading, maths and science assessments with the results obtained from them being deemed as important for governments around the world.
This article represents the level of impact that fake news is being perceived as having on the world. While measures to prevent its dissemination are being put in place, there's almost an acceptance that it's an issue that could be here to stay in the long run. The younger generations will now have to be taught the ways in which they can spot what exactly makes up a fake news story and how it differs from authentic ones. The impact the global competencies tests will have will also be quite noteworthy in seeing what they'll translate into in the next few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment