Teaching Media Studies as High School Social Science

Abstract

Although the media have become virtually ubiquitous in our information society, American high schools generally devote little attention to systematic study of the media. The United States lags behind several other countries in this regard. France has experimented with a form of media studies for more than 20 years (LaBorderie, 1984). In a reform of the British school curriculum, media studies occupies a prominent place on the agenda (Fuller, 1987). In addition, Australia is recognized as a world leader in its media literacy programs; Canada is seen as being close behind (Tyner, 1988). For example, Ontario requires media studies in all schools for grades 7-12. Other countries have made significant inroads in the area of media literacy, including Scotland, Chile, India, and Jordan (Silverblatt, 1995). Except for programs in New Mexico, North Carolina, and a few scattered school districts, media education is not required in the United States. Nearly a fifth of U.S. high school students participate in scholastic journalism programs (Digest, 1997), and universities support scholastic journalism through workshops, judging services, and sponsoring state press associations (Jorio and Garner, 1988). However, courses in such programs are sometimes seen by administrators as frill electives that are not part of the core curriculum (Dvorak, 1992). Scholastic journalism faces many of the same problems faced by schools of journalism and mass communication regarding their place in the central academic mission of their institutions (Tuggle and Sneed, 1998). That perception arises, in part, because journalism courses are often taught with a focus on applied skills with few contributions to a broader media studies perspective (King, 1997). We define media literacy as an effort to produce informed media consumers rather than helping a relatively few students learn to be media practitioners. Kubey (1998) maintains that obstacles block the development of general media education in the United States. Among the obstacles are geographic barriers, a lack of autonomy for teachers, and an already burgeoning curriculum that can include drug education, AIDS prevention, and anti-bullying classes. Megee (1997) wrote: Unlike other developed nations, the United States has not yet established media education as a priority for everyday schooling. She argues cogently that although television has played a major role in American life for almost half a century, and residents of the United States produce and consume more TV than people in any other country, we teach less about who is communicating, for what purpose, with what effect, and on behalf of which individuals than do many other countries. Similar concerns have been voiced for more than a decade. Considine (1987) noted that young people are given no guidance as to how to read, interpret, and critically evaluate the images and information they are exposed to, even though they are exposed to more media messages than ever before, thus leaving students visually vulnerable and potential victims of a language that can influence and manipulate them. The 50 states are spread across 3.6 million square miles, all have different educational authorities, and each has scores of local school boards. This is in contrast to smaller countries; thus making it difficult for the United States to embrace any national educational policies. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the opinions of social science teachers in two of the nation's largest school districts regarding whether they sense a need for systematic study of the media at the high school level. A second concern was determining whether the social science curriculum is the most appropriate place for such study. The researchers also attempted to determine which elements or topics the surveyed teachers think would be most useful to include in a study of the media. In their study, Sneed, Wulfemeyer, Van Ommeren, and Riffe (1990) concluded that American high schools, like many of their counterparts around the world, need to ensure that literacy is achieved in three areas: print, computer, and media. …