Hoaxes, Urban Legends, and Myths
I haven't
really had too many bad experiences with myths and hoaxes although I suppose I
had read my share. I certainly get enough of the chain letter type of
e-mails. Fortunately, I don't really take the time to participate in
these as I am just to busy to be wondering which ten friends I can forward this
current e-mail too and still retain as a friend!
This current
school year, our school nurse forwarded a warning about certain types of
lipstick containing some type of contamination. I gave it a cursory
reading, assumed it was true, coming from the nurse, after all!
Apparently that myth had been widespread within the county because later in the
day, someone else not from my school forwarded another e-mail with a link to a
website which dispelled this myth.
The tendency is
to believe what we see in print. Considering that we, as adults, believe some
of the things sent to us, it must be more difficult for a child to
differiente between fact and fiction. We need to teach our students not
to believe everything they read over the Internet. They need to learn to
authenticate the source of the e-mail or the article. Even
doing research for legitimate school projects, students may come across
information that sounds authentic but is actually published by a group or
individual with a specific agenda in mind. We must teach students to
check the sources of the articles to determine if it is published by a
authority on the subject.
Students should
learn to be skeptical of what they read--just like for something they
purchase. If it sounds too good to be true, or too far-fetched, it
probably is. That should be a clue to check further for
verification. The Center for Disease Control would be a good source if
the topic is medical in nature. They should look for clues like encouraging
them to send the information to everyone they know. E-mail is not the way
public news is spread. Beware of technical sounding language and
credibility by association issues. This may indicate further research on
their part. They should look for the hook, threat and the request in the
case of chain e-mail. Also, a red flag would be the difficulty in
verifying who the original sender of the e-mail was. We need to teach the
children not to treat the Internet with the same respect they would have
for an encyclopedia.