Should the schools teach students about fake news?

I have long been critical of how the schools seem to destroy everything that they touch. Ever since Trump won our most recent presidential election, they have been talking about expanding into the realm of fake news and how to spot it.

Technically speaking, the schools' numerous mistakes are insufficient to prove that they would screw up in regards to fake news. Judging from their comments, however, I am fairly confident that the failures woulf continue.

Before I go any further, there is something that I need to disclose. I initially wrote this away from Internet access. I also decided to refer to multiple articles that I found online. Since I didn't memorize what was in each article, I used "they" a lot, even in cases where only one person wrote something.

I have been concerned for quite some time about how teachers would handle fake news. Every time that I read something supportive of the concept, I have found myself becoming more skeptical. Why did I finally decide to write about my concerns? Because the latest articles are coming from a more official source, one of their unions.

One of the very first things I read, was that people need to be aware of the source. While source should be considered when considering the validity of information, they have a skewed perspective on source. They complain about students trading newspapers for the internet. While the internet is indeed unreliable, especially when used improperly, so are the newspapers. In fact, the Associated Press has proven itself to be one of the least trustworthy news sources in America, and they feed stories to a large majority of newspapers.

On my personal blog, I have called out mainstream media sources for their deceptive practices. I have also criticized the myth of the uneducated voter on this blog. There has been a recent discussion about how a Pew poll that didn't ask about education proves that conservatives are against education. Also, there is a lot of additional dishonest news items that I haven't even touched.

The message from teachers is that you can trust stories from the mainstream media despite the numerous times that they have been caught lying. While some comments have been outright lies, there are other forms of deceit. This includes treating opinions as facts and taking facts and quotes out of context.

When reading the specific examples of fake news that teachers are addressing, I become more concerned. They love pointing out complaints from restaurants that higher wages leads to higher food costs and perhaps layoffs. Technically speaking, teachers are correct when they call the source unreliable due to bias. Of course, it's common sense that if the government increases their costs by enough, they will either need to increase revenue or cut their expenses to remain profitable. This can be a tricky subject because there are other factors as well that can reduce the impact of small increases.

How about another example? They mentioned that biotech companies should not be trusted with arguments about genetically modified organisms. Again, this is technically true. What happens when people involved in science outside of these companies get involved in this discussion? I overwhelmingly hear two arguments. The first is the benefits to fighting hunger. The other is the lack of any evidence that this kind of food is in any way detrimental to health.

These two examples raise two serious questions. The first: Why did they choose these examples? They could have just as easily used a liberal think tank's views on these issues, and the argument of bias would still exist. The other question: Did they clarify to their students that bias on one side of an issue is insufficient to validate the opposite side?

It appears to me that teachers are using fake news arguments as a cheap tool to discredit conservative beliefs. All examples provided in the articles that I have read have only criticized fake news that is in line with the beliefs of conservatives. None address fake news skewed towards the liberals, even though those items are far more common.

The more I read about teachers tackling fake news, the more I see the emerging pattern. Teachers aren't trying to keep students from falling for fake news. They are trying to ensure that they are falling for the right fake news.

The AFT posted anarticle online that talked about fake news while pointing to additional articles. This is why I decided to write this post. The articles in question can actually be useful in helping people understand the kind of deception that you can find online. This is because the articles posted clearly include manipulative content. It's a good example of news that you should not trust.

I am begging anyone reading this to visit the AFT's website. Look at these articles. Pay attention to the bias of the writers. Notice how they are highly selective in providing examples of fake news. You should have no problems recognizing the deception.

I don't trust teachers to bring an end to the rise of fake news. There is plenty of reason to believe that their antics would actually increase students' susceptibility to deceit. If we really want to fight fake news, we need to do whatever it takes to keep the schools from becoming involved.