PD Editorial: Equip California’s students with media literacy skills

Graduates of California’s public K-12 schools might learn about reading, writing and arithmetic, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be equipped with some of the most important skills they need in the digital age. State lawmakers are trying to change that. Assembly Bill 873 would require that media literacy be a part of instruction in every subject at every level in California’s public schools.

It’s not uncommon to see a cellphone or tablet in the hands of a preschooler. Starting in kindergarten or earlier, children learn, communicate, research and create with devices connected to the internet. They must be fully equipped to use and evaluate the information they find online, to discern misinformation peddled by bad actors from information provided by reliable sources.

Media literacy also is good for young people’s mental health. According to Media Literacy Now, a nonpartisan group working to improve children’s control over their use of social media and other digital platforms, adolescents aged 12 and older spend seven to nine hours a day looking at computer and phone screens. If they have the skills to process what they find online, they are better inoculated against online bullying, manipulation, shaming and abuse.

California’s existing media literacy law, approved in 2018, requires the state Department of Education to make resources available to school districts. The department’s website has lots of useful information, but there’s no way of knowing whether any of it reaches the classroom.

EdSource, an Oakland-based online publication of news relating to education, reports that 18 states, including California, have some type of legislation promoting media literacy in public schools. But only three — Delaware, New Jersey and Texas — require that media literacy be taught at all grade levels. There’s no reason to lag behind Texas.

Not that AB 873 would leapfrog California ahead of Texas. Legislators are taking a light hand. The bill would only require the state’s Instructional Quality Commission to consider incorporating media literacy into every element of school curricula. The IQC makes curricular recommendations to the state Board of Education.

Fortunately, both the commission and the board are keenly aware of the ubiquity and power of digital media in education and in students’ lives. What California’s education bureaucracy needs is a signal that the state’s political leaders share this awareness and want something done about it. AB 873 sends that signal.

Having instruction span all school subjects and grade levels is a smart approach. The information students seek online is not limited to one or two subjects. They must be prepared to assess information in any field. Science misinformation differs from rhetorical or historical misinformation.

The absence of a legislative hammer and the fact that the bill adds nothing to the cost of education helped the bill to pass the Assembly unanimously. It’s now in the Senate.

Media literacy can be taught, and it can be learned — just like history, English and mathematics. The nation’s future depends on citizens’ ability to think critically about media messages, evaluate the credibility of information sources, recognize false or misleading claims and use media platforms responsibly. AB 873 commits California to empowering students with those vital skills.

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