Education and the Future: Why We Need Media Literacy.

According to Media Literacy by W. James Potter, he explains that media literacy is a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter. As a college student, I feel that media literacy is a necessity for future generations.

Not only are we educated in standard classrooms with standard textbooks, but we are now becoming educated online as well. People need to be media literate if they want to understand how they are being educated and what they are learning. Even though there are so many forms of media, the future holds even more. It will be crucial for students of all ages, especially college students, to be able to understand and interpret the media.

In the article, A Plea for Media Literacy in our Nation's Schools, David Shaw states, “We live in increasingly complex times, and unless we teach our children how to read about, watch, interpret, understand and analyze the day's events, we risk raising a generation of civic illiterates, political ignoramuses and uncritical consumers, vulnerable not only to crackpot ideas, faulty reasoning and putative despots but fraudulent sales pitches and misleading advertising claims.”

As young adults in college, the media is how we gain most of our information. We should be informed as to what is going on in the news both worldwide and in our community. We need to understand what types of media are reliable and which are not. College involves a lot of media and until we learn what is right from wrong, we will never be able to survive the plethora of media that currently surrounds us.

In the article, Why Do U.S. Students Need Media Literacy?, Naomi Rockler-Gladen states, “Media literacy classes provide students with skills, tools, insights, and a vocabulary to understand the important role the media play in shaping, reflecting, and sometimes subverting our social realities. They often contain a production component so that students can understand firsthand the role of technology and production in shaping media messages.” This quote holds a lot of truth because students need media literacy for all of these reasons.

If we cannot filter out the unnecessary media, then we cannot function as responsible college students. People will just end up doing whatever the media suggests. We will lose our sense of control and decision making. An example of this is when college students are asked about politics. Students not only know next to nothing about the election and issues of the presidential candidates, but they think they know everything. Because the war in Iraq was and still is posted all over the news, people of all ages are exposed to it. The catch is that none of us are over in Iraq, but we think we know exactly what is going on because that is what reporters make us believe. Issues on the news are one sided and only half reported, causing us to believe we are on top of things.

Overall, media literacy is important for the future in education. It provides an outlet for students to gain a different perspective and to learn in a different manner than what they are accustomed to in the traditional classroom. This is really important in the current trends of education especially differentiated instruction as well as other techniques teachers are utilizing in their instruction.

Stop the Violence.

The media has the potential to greatly affect our lives. In class last week, we watched a video on whether violent video games have the potential to turn its players into violent people. While some of the class said it was the parent’s job to make sure kids know violence is wrong, others felt that these games had a major impact on its players. I feel as though the media has the ability to change the way we act, but only if we let it. By conducting this exercise, I have learned that the people who fall into the seven set point factors and six factors special to a type of effect have the ability to resist being changed by the media for the most part.

The first violent form of the media that I was exposed to was a movie called Saw. It is a series of four movies that exposes murdering, blood, gore, death, etc. Even though this is one of the more violent movies I have ever seen, it did not have the ability to change the way I conduct myself. Just because I saw numerous people getting murdered does not mean that I am going to follow their actions. I know this is wrong, I was taught this is wrong, and I would never do anything like this.

The second form of media that I exposed myself to was the radio. There are many Hip Hop, R and B, and Rap songs which are violent. The one that sticks out in my mind is called, “X Is Coming for You” by DMX. In this rap song, DMX talks about shooting his enemy in front of his family after raping his victim’s daughter. I know it’s a bit much, but this just goes to show just how violent rap songs can be. People know that murder and rape is wrong, and a song is not going to influence them into taking these actions.

If people did take action just because of a movie, song, video game, etc, then there must be something else influencing them to act this way. I mean, think about it – would you go out and murder or rape someone just because you saw it in a movie or heard it in a song? I didn’t think so.

When researching this topic, I came across an article which supports my position on this topic. In the article, media violence researcher Rowell Huesmann said, "Serious aggressive behavior only occurs when there is a convergence of multiple predisposing and precipitating factors" Like I said before, the media does have the ability to change our ways, but only if we let it.

In the future, I think movie producers, song writers, video game makers, etc, should tone down the violence for the sheer fact that it is unnecessary. We do not need to be exposed to any more violence than we already are on the news and in news articles. Enough is enough.

American Idol v. Dancing With the Stars

Broadcast television is very popular today. Two of the most popular shows on broadcast television are American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. These shows tend to appeal to every age group because they are family oriented, but still have the ability to attract the younger generations. Also, these two shows are based on the nation’s opinions by having them call or text in and vote. This also attracts people because it makes them feel as though they have a say in who wins.

The broadcast television show I picked to research is American Idol. Since this show is on two days a week, I chose Tuesday night even though it took second place in the ratings to Wednesday night’s showing of American Idol. If you are not familiar with the show, every Tuesday night at 8:00, the competitors sing in order to remain on the show. At the end of the show, people across America call or text their votes. Wednesday nights at 8:00 is when America finds out who gets kicked off the show. Even though Wednesday night is the bigger night, I enjoy watching the competitors sing every Tuesday.

One of American Idol’s biggest competitors is Dancing With the Stars. This show is on Monday nights at 8:00pm and Tuesday nights at 9:00 following American Idol. According to Nielson’s television ratings for the week of March 24, 2008, Tuesday night’s American Idol rated at 14% with 24.758 million viewers which took second place to Wednesday night’s showing of American Idol with 15.2% of households tuning in which equals to a whopping 25.742 viewers. Monday night’s showing of Dancing With the Stars ranked third place with 13% of households watching it equaling to 20.515 million viewers. Dancing With the Stars directly follows American Idol, but it takes third place to both nights of it. My best assumption would be that American Idol has the better time slot at 8:00pm opposed to 9:00pm.

If American Idol was moved to 9:00pm, I do not think it would do as well. It might split the ratings with Dancing With the Stars. Also, American Idol could fall below Dancing with the Stars in ratings. These are both very popular shows and they both compete for viewers across the nation. The 8:00pm timeslot is a very good time for this show to be on because many older people go to bed around 9:00pm which is why Dancing With the Stars does not have as many people watching it.