In Finnish schools, children learn to recognize fake news
Our Facebook home is overrun with it. We all have an uncle over sixty who is the greatest Italian expert and will always be ready to update us on the latest in chronological order. We are talking about fake news, the real misfortune of digitized information.
They did not spare us even during the Coronavirus emergency, on the contrary, the epidemic immediately lent itself to becoming the main topic of rather unlikely and dangerous news. Still, there are people who believe in it. But not four or five friends of the bowling club. There is talk of thousands of people who fall into this trap and, strengthened by what they have learned from media hoaxes, they will claim to be winners in every debate. Finland says enough and, to maintain its primacy among the European nations most "resistant" to false news, it institutes fake news lessons in schools. No, what do you understand? They do not intend to teach children how to create fake news and spread it on the web, on the contrary, the goal is to provide them with the tools they need to approach the world of online information with a critical spirit, immediately intercepting the "scams".
What do you learn during these lessons?
Kari Kivinen, dean of the Helsinki state college, is convinced that “Think critically, check facts, interpret and evaluate all the information you receive, wherever it appears, is crucial " and for this reason the country has decided to tackle the issue with an academic approach that covers all subjects. Yes ok, but how ?, you ask yourself. It is soon said. During math class, students will learn how simple it is to lie with statistics. And in the history of art? Well, it is well known that an image lends itself to countless interpretations, so it will be demonstrated how easy it is to manipulate its meaning. In history the propaganda campaigns will be reviewed, while the Finnish language teachers will explain to the pupils all the ways in which it is possible to refine one's ars rhetoric to confuse, shape or, worse, deceive our interlocutors with the mere use of the word. .
Education is the only weapon against disinformation
This ideological fight against fake news is for Finland a question of civil protection aimed at training citizens who know how to manage the enormous flow of information from which we are bombarded every day, promptly discerning what is true from what is bogus. Priya, a 16-year-old student, is totally in favor of the solution adopted by the Finnish government, considering that education is the only winning weapon against disinformation. It is therefore not surprising that the Nordic country usually reaches the top of the rankings in terms of freedom of the press, transparency, education and justice, areas in which Italy still has a lot of work to do.
Could it be the case to export this initiative almost everywhere ?!
