EDUC 6810 Wk. 1 Reading and Comments

Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection by Neil Postman

Wow! When I first read Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection by Neil Postman 

I thought this guy is on a major rant. However the more I read the more it revealed that this guy has some great substance. What is the message that educators want students to walk away with? How do educators take at face value what students say especially with such a vocal young society, which can express so much in so many different ways? Student need to better understand how to express themselves with the use of digital media and social media. They can’t just post or show in appropriate language or as the call it

“Physical Art”.

   

Which brings me to what (Postman, 1969) said in his article about “Each person’s crap detector is embedded in their value system; if you want to teach the art of crap detecting, you must help students become aware of their values”. I totally agree with this statement, I believe that this statement changes everything because of its meaning, he basically said you get what you give. If you want students to give you great quality work free from bullshit then make them see what they are worth show them their value. Students should be taught how to recognize bullshit, including their own. Don’t be surprised if they call you out on your own bullshit be honest they will respect you for it. They may not like it but they will know you are not feeding them a line of crap.

Today in 2014 Neil Postman would probably say that Teachers must become masters in Pomposity, Fanaticism, Inanity and how to identify a classroom’s culture of Superstition. It's the only way to identify and prevent it from bringing the horror of bullshit to your classrooms.

Postman, N. (2007, July 22). Neil Postman – Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection. Retrieved August 23, 2014, from http://criticalsnips.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/neil-postman-bullshit-and-the-art-of-crap-detection

Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y

This video was really good I especially liked the way Cameron shared her opinion on how people mis the real message because they don’t take the time to really look, listen, and do little researching. Don’t believe what you see in the media the majority of the time it’s not true. Often times we hear students say well if it’s on the internet it’s true. If I had a 100.00 bill for every time I heard that well let’s just say I could purchase a plane ticket to Florida.

We are a culture of image and we want to look like the parts we play. If people in in our group don’t look the same or share the same image as our society or community then what do we do? We generally stereo type people immediately.

Cameron showed pictures of her being a simple kid who had went to sleep over’s and played soccer who new! If she did not mention it in this video I would have never known that about her. Cameron is just like my daughter or some of the girls on my youth team. To see Cameron’s picture or her twitter page is to see this image of super model with a fancy career. After watching the video I looked at Cameron’s twitter page it was much like her video, Images of her at work and images of her just being Cameron. She is even on twitter taking the ice bucket challenge.

One of the things I was very impressed by was her comment about paying her way through college.

Russell, C. (2013, January 16). Cameron Russell: Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://youtu.be/KM4Xe6Dlp0Y

Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core Concepts, Debates, Organizations, and Policy

Critical literacy is the ability to actively read text in a manner that promotes a deeper understanding of socially constructed concepts and helps you to create your own meaning or message. It encourages individuals to understand and question the attitudes, values, and beliefs of written texts, visual applications, and spoken words. (Kellner & Share, 2005)

With Critical Media Literacy students and teachers learn to use media intelligently, they also learn to discriminate and evaluate media content. What you see is not always true. Studying the influence of mass media in our lives allows students to view advertising and advertisement in a new light. Students become aware of the tremendous amount of advertising that they are exposed to on a daily basis. By looking at advertising critically, students begin to understand how the media oppresses certain groups, cultures, and messages. The messages are constructed using creative language that is distinguish between connotation and denotation and signifier and signified (Fiske, 1990).

What all three have in common (Postman's speech, Russell's video, Kellner and Share’s journal article) is that the media will always have one type of interpretation and we will have another. Critical Media Literacy requires information, education, and awareness in order to be able to distinguish the differences in other words don’t fall for the bullshit.

          

Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education. Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core Concepts, Debates, Organizations, and Policy, 26(3), 369-386.