The article Math and
Media is a short passage that offers suggestions on how math could be used
analyze and address social problems. The article suggested teaching ideas that
would integrate math into language arts and social studies. One of the idea
that was suggested was photo fairness (to find bias in mass media) in which
math skills such as simple computation, averages, percent, and graphing could
be utilized. Another suggestion would be to highlight every time certain people
are quoted or stories that were about crimes and violence or stories about
people working for peace and justice. The article also provides links to
Resources. The group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) studied articles
in newspapers and found the following: In the Washington Post and New York Times
78% of the stories were based on words of government officials, 13% of
those quoted in the front page in the Post
were women, and women were responsible for only 6% of the quotes in the front
page of the Times.
The article Taking
Action Against Disney discusses a middle school teacher’s dilemma as to
protest or not to protest with his students after watching a 28 minute
documentary Mickey Mouse goes to Haiti
about exploitation of workers in factories contracted by Disney. The teacher
was worried he would get in trouble for influencing students on something that
is considered a political issue. When a student suggested doing a demonstration
outside of a Disney store in San Francisco, the teacher was in a hard place as
to how to continue. Prior he had taken steps in which he began listing in the
school newsletter guilty companies. School administration got involved in which
he was told to stop writing the lists and his submissions needed to get prior
approval. He was told he was muddying his neutral educator perception, and some
would say he was putting his job on the line. The teacher continued with
subject matter when the National Labor Committee (NLC) announced an
international week of action against Disney. The teacher sent letters home to
families giving info about the rally and background information. He received a
lot of positive responses but not everyone was pleased. He had three students
attend the protest but they were able to join other groups battling the same
issue. By noon, there were 75 people protesting. The teacher did not lose his
job and was only reprimanded was that he used the school’s mailing directory
incorrectly to send out the letters. The teacher believes he did the right
thing because teaching about social justice is important in every class.
Mickey Mouse Goes to Haiti Part I (9:48)
Mickey Mouse Goes to Haiti Part II (9:46)
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