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Friday, October 14, 2011

Media Literacy and Christian Worldview

A few weeks back I was asked to share my vision on how our learning commons could impact our student's lives with 21 century learning.  As a librarian I have always been of the opinion that it is better to educate, than to censor or shelter our youth.  Protecting our kids for too long is bad for them, and really bad for us.  Because when our kids leave home they will be consumed by the wolves.

Here is why? Students today are being assaulted by the media from all directions, and many do not know how to deflect some of these barbs, nor do they understand how to critically evaluate them.

Media literacy is  the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media.


If we censor we risk losing our kids, because down the road they will rebel in a big way.  So how do we go about training up our youngsters to think on their feet?

We call into action Christian worldview!  We start by asking questions and lots of them like; where, why, and how God is not in the story of a young woman who poses inappropriately in a magazine.  We analyze photographs and compare illustrations, art work and poetry to gain an insight into God's creation.  We come alongside our students and ask the following:

Whose idea is this?  Is this message true?  What are the consequences of this message?  Do you believe in the same thing.  Is this a secular or a Christian worldview,  a naturalist or creationist view?

Once our kids are questioning their every viewing, reading, and listening you will be amazed at how they start to resonate with God, and tune out the negative.  We need to attend to their needs while we can still help with their doubting minds, and instead of preaching, start encouraging them to bring their critical thinking to the fore.  My son Matthew and I are reading Thinking Like a Christian and for the first time he is understanding the forces that are so eminent in the culture which shape him so implicitly.  Part of his course means reading and sifting through the media to understand the different worldviews that are so inherent in journalism today.

I am so proud of my son when he shares with me how a song is inappropriate or a movie has bad language.   I am encouraged that God is testing him, to nurture him into a stronger faith.  I encourage you to bring media literacy into your home.

Blessings to you
Pippa

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