ABSTRACT
Middle-school and high-school students and their teachers need to develop an ability to analyze critically the media with which they are bombarded through television, magazines, radio, the Internet, advertisements inside and outside school settings, and even curriculum materials with which they are presented. Arguing otherwise seems counterintuitive to the generally accepted educational aim of creating citizens capable of “fulfi lling the duties of citizenship in a participatory democracy” (National Council for the Social Studies, 1994) or able “to pursue life’s goals and to participate fully as informed, productive members of society” (National Council of Teachers of English, 1996).
