Social Media may become a fully recognised and examinable subject for secondary school students following a proposal from Wireless Teaching Force (WTF).
According to a statement students would be assessed on their ability to access and use the various media, just as they are assessed on their ability to apply formulas to solve mathematical problems.
“We as ejecatrz need 2 catr 4 mdrn lrning teknikz + stratejiz 2 re engage with lrnrs in C21 + 2 prpare Sts 4 a new wrld of digital litresi skilz crntly >dvelopd in skoolz” Tweeted WTF.
Students of English Literature, for example, could analyse a literary or dramatic text in 140 characters or less, while students of Modern History may earn credit for re posting photos of events such as Anzac Day on their facebook page.
As this article went to press, 123,490 secondary school students had ‘Liked’ the proposal on the WTF facebook page and many had left supportive comments.
“better than reading all those books by Shakespeare and, what’s his name, Woolworths, in English…” commented JuZTN.
The proposal, however, drew criticism from The National Party.
“The proposal is absolutely preposterous, outrageous. Social Media is the celebration of the banal. It is anathema to rigour. The mere moniker adopted by those proposing the plan is indicative of its flaws – I mean ‘WTF?’ This signals the death of education.”
Victorian secondary school student Gemma said in response;
“‘The Death of Education’, I’ve never seen that movie but I’ll try and download it tonight – is it on torrent… oh wait, I’ll just text Sandy…”
Other critics of the plan claim that social media makes no account for accuracy in vocabulary or in grammar, to which Gemma replied;
“No account for Gramma, why would my Nan be doing the exam? She’s, like, heaps old.”
Various Australian teaching unions collaborated to compile the following statement on a piece of butcher’s paper, which they then photographed and uploaded to a number of social media sites.
“We are extremely disappointed at the lack of consultation with our members and the likely increased work load which will fall upon their shoulders as the key stakeholders in the delivery of this new curriculum. In response we’ve launched an aggressive facebook campaign rallying our members to demand more consultation and transparency in any future proposals”.
WTF provided a glimpse of what secondary school education may look like in the near future;
“We are in consultation with a technology company called Lifelong Online Learners (LOL) to develop an App which will allow students to submit their assignments and exam responses anywhere at any time – thus alleviating the confrontational and threatening nature of on-site exams which many students find stressful”.
The proposal is currently being discussed by relevant national bodies. The National Board of Education has so far offered no indication as to whether they ‘Like’ the proposal.
kieranblakewriter 