Media Studies Rationale

My school works very much on an individualistic level. Administrators, teachers, and students work alone on much of the school curriculum. There is not much accountability for the teachers in the classroom. Unless there are complaints from the parents, educators pretty much have free reign in the classroom. This is both a positive and a negative issue. The positive side of this is that teachers are able to create much of the curriculum that they use, therefore allowing as much media study to take place as they wish. The downside of this issue is that teachers are not as supportive and cooperative as they should be in helping one another succeed in the classroom. If teachers could work together to make a stronger curriculum and work together to implement many skills that students are being taught in one room, then overall, our schools would be much more cooperative and function at a higher level.

Media studies is disregarded in many schools because it is something that is still relatively new and many of the teachers do not feel comfortable teaching and using technology in the classroom. This also scares many parents because media studies is not the traditional way of learning and it is not often the way that they learning in the classroom. While it is still something relatively new to me as a teacher, I feel it vital for students to be taught media studies for many reasons.

First, students today are using media much more than the generation before them. They live in a world surrounded by multiple sources of media. This is the way in which students interact and learn today. Students are engaged in media. Students are familiar with many media sources. In order to best meet the needs of our pupils, we must know and understand the best ways of communicating with them. If students no longer sit and read books at home, but rather engage in media texts, is it reasonable to insist they engage in written texts at school? Students have gained new knowledge about various literacies and it is important to help them use these skills at school.

Not only will media studies better engage our students, but media studies allows students to understand the world of communication beyond themselves, beyond their peers, beyond their school, and beyond their cities. With the use of media, students are engaged with the world. Students are now able to communicate with people whom they would have never come in contact with otherwise. Students are able to learn about new material that they did not previously have the resources to do so. Also, media helps students to gain new skills in terms of communication. They must interpret new meanings of other cultures different types of images and texts consistently. These important skills will help students in the future as more and more colleges and businesses are looking for creativity and communication skills.

And finally, students must possess the skills to interpret the world around them. While many forms of media engage students in learning and help students to gain new skills, students must also know how to properly interpret media as well as understand how it shapes their world. “Because print and television news mediate our understanding of the world, it is essential that students learn to critique how these ownership issues influence news and documentaries, particularly in terms of their objectivity, depth of coverage, and political perspectives” (Beach 7). Students need to gain the wisdom in order to censor what they are watching and what they are learning to believe. Students must learn for themselves how they feel about what they are being told by the media.

In conclusion, media studies must be implemented in our school districts. There are many vital skills students need in order to survive in a media driven world. As the future of our nation, students must have the skills to understand media and how it works as well as the great influence it possesses.