Classes In Finland To Teach Children How To Recognize Fake News and Disinformation

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
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Finns take education very seriously, nice that they teach these things to the children. We need more of that in the United States, although it may be happening already in some places.

 

What a slippery slope! I'm immediately reminded of this cautionary scene:


Anti-intellectual mobocracy is a terrible thing.
 
It is all nice and well, but are we expected to take the CBS report as gospel? That is not a reflection of CBS, but news and other forms of media, in general. That's how pervasive the problem of mis/disinformation has become, imho.
 

25 years ago, the English mistress in the junior high school where I was teaching taught the girls to recognise different genres of writing. Included were informative, emotive, scientific, persuasive and propaganda. Today's students would also need to examine social media.

The Finns, by the way, are miles in front of the rest of the world when it comes to teaching.
 
I'm trying to figure out just what Finland has to offer the World. Santa Clause.
He was in Grafton having fun at a bar tonight.


So, everyone knows Santa but the big news is that he comes from Finland. Santa Claus’ original home lies in the mysterious Korvatun- turi fell in the middle of wilderness in Lapland. Since the exact location is a secret only known to a chosen few, he decided to establish an office in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, in 1985.

I know! It's a load of crap! Lol ... :coffee: ...
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We've seen this movie before:

The Little Red Book - or, to give its full title, Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong - contains 267 aphorisms from the Communist Chinese leader, covering subjects such as class struggle, "correcting mistaken ideas" and the "mass line", a key tenet of Mao Zedong Thought. Included is Mao's famous remark that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".​
 
Dis or mis information has and will be around. Even before internet and social media one just had to read all the magazine headlines at the supermarket checkout lines.

And it will continue to be because now anyone can do what news people used to do. Yes there is some or irrelevant reports like celebrity X spotted with another women but many wind up being on scene reporters by posting pictures and tweets like many of the hurricane reports and pictures.

The big thing is verify check out multiple sources on the same story.
 
I actually remember being taught about critical reading skills as early as the 7th grade. I was introduced to logic in high school, although it was not presented as a unit, but more or less incidentally, as "here's something to keep in mind." It was one of the more interesting bits of learning I remember. I don't know if it was emphasized at in other schools or not. But I think it was useful, actually more useful than a lot of things in the school's planned curriculum. I think we need more of it today. Truth and reason are under attack. This is not new, but it's happening on an ever increasing level, and it is destructive to society.
 
It is no longer amusing to hear the masses parrot "critical thinking," which is Orwellian doublespeak for "testing alignment with the Party line."

Doublespeak: 'war is peace' and 'freedom is slavery.'
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It was funny when this came into vogue during the 1980s, because we naturally assumed it was only used ironically. No more.
 
I have a feeling when the internet is taught in grade school there is a curriculum that addresses false information here is America too. It goes with the territory, and teachers are trained for the grade level how to impart meaning into words. The internet for education is much different than surfing the web also. :)
 
Most of the fake news and disinformation comes from the government and their mainstream media itself. But I doubt that Finland was referring to this fact.
 
It's a start, so thank goodness. The level of gullible stupidity of most people is embarrassing to the human race. The next time someone says, "do your own research" after showing a complete lack of such behavior themselves, I might just explode.
 
VaughanJB said:
It's a start, so thank goodness. The level of gullible stupidity of most people is embarrassing to the human race. The next time someone says, "do your own research" after showing a complete lack of such behavior themselves, I might just explode.
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Don't explode, we want to read your thoughts, even if we not always agree with them. But this is, what makes a critical discussion forum. People who only live in their own bubble don't like forums like this.
 
This is a full blown problem in high school and college. Kids are doing their research with AI and getting it to write their papers! Teachers have ways to find out if AI was used. But what if the students find a way around those checks. What if AI could be programmed to by pass all that would be noticeable if AI wrote it. :)
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
Yep, and there are those using it on this forum.
But back the thread topic... are we drifting towards re-education camps?
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How are you drawing a ling to re-education camps? As humans, we never stop learning, and should never be above learning. Sometimes we realize we've been wrong for a long time. In the case of the topic of this thread - the internet as a (relatively) new technology means we have new things to learn, new skills to acquire.
 

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