If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed. (Mark Twain)
Thinking about the musings from DAY 5: To Be Or Not To Be…Biased…
I would submit to you that at the end of the day, all sources of information, whether it be a(n):
(online) newspaper, website, speech, blog, diary, Tweet, Retweet, and others…all have some degree of bias in them.
This reasoning I believe is simple: because Man Expresses Himself. We are all naturally biased to some degree. So, when Man Expresses Himself through one of these outlets, we are then by default, biased.
In other words, bias is part of human nature….
It is because of this realization, (or perhaps, revelation?), that I tell my students when they are trying to learn about historical events, whether from 10,000 years ago, or real-time current events flowing during the middle of class, they must learn how to detect bias.
I would submit to you that it is important for them to learn about said event(s) from multiple sources, in an attempt to neutralize bias when learning about the world around them.
The more sources, the better.
For example, I explain to them that during the school week, that they spend 5 minutes, literally, going through various news websites, to get an idea of what is going on in the world in real-time.
In the end, it really doesn’t matter what website order they select, but here would be an example that I present to them to assess the current events unfolding around the world:
Monday – Fox News, (to get coverage from a network considered far ‘right’): https://www.foxnews.com/;
Tuesday – CNN, (to get coverage from a network considered far ‘left’): http://cnn.com/;
Wednesday – British Broadcasting Corporation, (to get coverage from one of America’s ‘strongest allies’ historically): https://www.bbc.com/;
Thursday – Russian Times (RT), (to get coverage from one of America’s ‘greatest enemies’ historically): https://www.rt.com/ and;
Friday – Aljazeera, (to get coverage from a source from an Islamic point of view): https://www.aljazeera.com/.
(For those of you who qualify as former: honors, Advanced Placement, and Type A students, here is your extra credit):
Saturday – (China) People’s Daily, (to get coverage on what the Chinese, Communist government is telling 1 billion of their citizens to read): http://en.people.cn/
After assessing information from multiple sources in regards to said current event(s), I then tell them that it is up to them to “Free Their Mind”, to come to their own conclusion.
I explain to them that they are one day closer to being out of the house, or off to college, or to their job, or off to visit the world. In any event, they eventually will be on their own, and at that point it will not matter what their parents or religious leader or teacher or coach told them about the world, but eventually, they themselves will have to come to their own conclusions as to the comings and goings of the world around them.
I would contend that it is important for all of us to be able to come to our own conclusions…not because our spouse, family member, boss, co-worker, school-mate, best friend or priest told us the information was right, (or wrong), but because we came to our own conclusion. It was our research, our time, our energy, our investment, that we used when coming to an informed decision about a particular topic.
It is learning to be able to detect bias from sources to help them to try to uncover the truth.
That is where the value of teaching reliability comes into play….
In addition to learning about detecting bias from a source, it is also important to discuss the potential reliability of that source as well.
After all, if the source is not reliable, why would you as the consumer believe anything that the source has to say?
In fact, why would you even go to that source going forward, knowing that there is little to no reliability to begin with?
When reviewing an event to determine reliability, it is important to understand the differences between a primary and secondary source:
1) Primary sources: These are first-hand accounts. They are original sources. The author was somehow directly connected to the event they are writing, (expressing), about. Good examples of primary sources are: laws, treaties, speeches, diaries, letters, interviews, photographs, reports of eyewitness accounts, video or audio evidence, data, surveys, economic statistics or even a play;
2) Secondary sources: These are second-hand accounts. They are by definition at least one step removed from the primary source. There may be direct quotes in a second-hand source, but that direct quote is not from the second-hand source itself, it came from the primary source. Opinions, analysis, interpretation, a review of a play, etc., are all solid examples of a second-hand source. In addition, the farther away in time or geography the second-hand source is, the more unreliable they become.
It is easy to demonstrate the concept of primary vs. secondary sourcing in my classes. I begin the activity by standing by the classroom door. Next, I whisper some information to the student that is closet to me. The task then is for that student to turn around and tell the second student what I said to the first student.
The second tells the third, who tells it to the fourth, that tells it to the fifth in the next row in class…until eventually, my statement finally makes its way to the student at the complete, opposite end of the classroom, in some instances, 30 students away from me.
Once that task is done, the question I ask is this, who is more reliable in sharing the information I introduced in class, me, the first student I shared that information with or the last student to receive my information?
The answer is obvious.
My statement, coming from me directly, as a primary source, would be the most reliable.
The idea that my statement, that has been ultimately processes through 29 additional sources in my example above, from student 30, being as reliable as the statement coming directly from me, makes no logistical sense whatsoever.
In addition, what if I started with my statement with the students in our first class of the day and continued on throughout the entire school day?
How reliable would that information be by the end of the school day?
The school week?
The school year?
I think you get the idea that even an elementary student can understand the concept and more importantly the value of a primary vs. secondary source.
That is, if they have ever played the ‘Telephone Game’, they would understand….
Bias and reliability are evident in their textbooks as well. I ask the students: “Who writes the history books?” The very astute answer is: “The winners.” That would be the most logical answer to make. After all, why would the losers have a chance to put stuff into the history books when after all…they lost?
I ask the students if the winners would like everyone to know about their short-comings, their weaknesses, and their failings. The answer is clear, of course not, they won, after all, why would they write about their short-comings as the winners?
That is why they are more likely to remove such valid, (and truthful), information, even from a government endorsed, public school, textbook.
I end the concept on bias vs. reliability with the following that I have already brought up, and continue to bring up, throughout the school year:
1) Knowledge Is Power and;
2) Reading Is Fundamental.
The question then is simple. Is there a book, website, source, that is free of bias? If you believe that Man Expresses Himself, and has been for the past 10,000 years, how is it possible to truly find a reliable source among all of the evidence that man has left behind over those past 10,000 years?
Is there even a single, reliable source out there?
I think there is….
Do not feel discouraged if you don’t read, research, and discover more about your world. Do not feel discouraged if you cannot distinguish or care enough to worry about the reliability or bias of something that you take in from one, or more, of your five senses. Instead, embrace the idea that Knowledge Is Power. Embrace the idea that Reading Is Fundamental. 10-15 minutes. For some that is a sentence or two at best. For others, that may be several pages or chapters out of a book. Either way, why not begin to spend 10-15 minutes learning something new? When reading or watching, can you tell when bias is upon you? When the information is reliable? It’s not as easy as it appears.
9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 6: What Does It Mean To Be Reliable Exactly?
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: