OLDS — This year’s social studies 30 class in École Olds High School is a great opportunity to teach students about disinformation and misinformation – and propaganda in general, principal Tom Christensen says.
It’s not only an issue during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it's everywhere nowadays, he adds.
Wikipedia defines misinformation is incorrect or misleading information that is presented as fact, “intentionally or unintentionally.” It defines disinformation as a misinformation that is “deliberately deceptive.”
"We spend a lot of time on propaganda,” Christensen said during an interview.
He described Russian president Vladimir Putin as “a master of disinformation.”
However, Christensen said the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation is not just limited to the invasion of Ukraine.
“When I grew up, the people I read the news from had applied for that job. It was a profession,” he said.
“And now, in the age of disinformation, you’re not only dealing with disinformation from media, state media like what exists in Russia, but you’re also dealing with disinformation from keyboard journalists, right? People who’ve just given themselves their own credentials to write something.
“Propaganda has always been a part of any war at any time in history. But what these students are facing is there’s millions – probably literally millions of propagandists in a way – people that have opinions that can be taken as wrong.
“So we have to spend a lot of time. Information literacy is almost the biggest need in education. How do you sort through information?”
