At this point, the “stealth” or Sesame Street approach might work better for kids. Soap operas, reality shows, and dramas (on TV and podcasts) could be an option for adults. If studios package the bitter pill of knowledge inside a tasty treat, the folks who get their news from Fruit Bowls, partisan radio programs, and “ripped from the headlines” TV dramas might swallow it without noticing. So many of them are already programmed to believe in conspiracy theories, it’s just a matter of transitioning them to something that contains factual information.
15 Likes
That’s a really good thought. Get some creative types on that stat! (Totally nonironic there. Kinda kicking myself for not thinking of it.)
13 Likes
Much of popular media (outside of soap operas, reality shows and police shows), which is increasingly superhero/fantasy/science fiction, is already doing this, and probably one of the reasons that critical thinking skills seem to be much higher in younger cohorts. It could be better! But it’s definitely a thing.
As for reality shows, I just wish there were some way to Name of the Rose that shit. That was always my fantasy for grocery aisle magazines, especially when they went full racist back in 2016.
I want, not so much “critical thinking” skills, but media literacy. Much of what is sick in our society, in my ever so humble opinion, stems from an advertising-based culture of aggressive insecurity. “You aren’t good enough, you don’t have enough, you’re in danger and can’t protect yourself or your family!” At least understanding what they are constantly trying to do to you, and the monkey-brain cues they are poking (also see “Reality TV”) to get it.
But still, lesson one is “There are no such things as ghosts.”
13 Likes
That is great. Slightly off topic but I’ve been thinking along the same lines when people defend the oligarchs tax evasion or other political immoral assholery as, “it’s allowed within the law.”
So then why are you out protesting same-sex marriage and access to abortions?
15 Likes
What concerns me just as much as the shortening of attention spans and need for constant engagement. Maybe 15-second ads and sound bites are great for selling things, but not so much for education. The only way to confirm the content is reaching them is to make sure they can give it a thumbs-up at the end. 
12 Likes
5 Likes
Might be interesting. 
It’s free.
eta: Estimated Time 6h 38m
17 Likes
Well, that IS a new skill set that will be needed in the upcoming years…
12 Likes
“834,164 already enrolled”
There seems to be a healthy amount of interest.
14 Likes
I saw that.
Classes start today.
7 Likes
I think that local school districts in CA get to choose their curriculum/textbooks, but it does have to agree with the state standards. I do know that LAUSD is pretty huge so that does have an enormous influence on publishers. However, I thought I once read that Texas has an even greater influence because the state is the central authority in textbook adoption?
12 Likes
It’s where the book companies actually are. It’s such low hanging fruit I don’t understand why some liberal billionaire hasn’t just built a competing publisher.
10 Likes
“I’m extremely concerned that the president is being advised by people who speak of herd immunity,” Haseltine said, adding: “herd immunity is another word for mass murder.”
Where’s the reporter asking “Why do we need herd immunity when we’re going to have a great, beautiful vaccine by election day?”
14 Likes
Because good education and a society capable of producing billionaires are incompatible concepts?
9 Likes
I completed that course. It was very good. It’s no joke, either. It’s not something most people will crank out in an afternoon.
15 Likes
A local high school has closed down completely due to Covid. But the plan is that they will stay closed for less than a full week while the school is cleaned. And then the students can come back and immediately start the cycle again.
Yes, I know this is happening all over the place.
13 Likes
My workplace recently just got over it’s second COVID shutdown. I work from home for the most part so it’s not too much of a disruption.
Yeah, this will be the new norm.
13 Likes
This is what I have understood. CA is divided into various districts, while TX operates as a unified market and pretty much sets the standard for the nation. Yeah, be afraid. I have hopes that as we transition to virtual textbooks, maybe their stranglehold will loosen.
15 Likes
I work in the building performance field. Field technicians use blower doors to diagnose building air leakage and air exchanges. We’ve recently adopted a tactic of “flushing out” the air in a home prior to sending workers in, to reduce the levels of virus in the air if anyone in the home is infected but not showing symptoms. (If anyone were a known carrier or showing symptoms, we wouldn’t send workers in.)
Some folks have gotten this cool idea and I wonder if anyone here has an informed opinion to share:
It’s basically using the regular tools of our trade to increase building ventilation levels during polling hours. Given what I know of the virus and of blower doors, this sounds really good, but I’d be interested to hear others’ thoughts. Especially anyone with medical or fluid dynamics expertise.
14 Likes
