BOSTON—Massachusetts schools would be required to help students become more media savvy under a bill set to come up for a public hearing on Beacon Hill.
The goal of the bill is to ensure students develop the independent thinking and critical analysis skills needed to navigate an increasingly media-saturated world.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Katherine Clark of Melrose, would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a program to teach media skills from kindergarten through high school.
The program would teach students how to evaluate information from a variety of Internet and media sources, analyze how media messages including advertising are constructed and understand media's explicit and implicit messages.
A Statehouse hearing on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday.
