ABSTRACT
Media literacy as a competency has at last begun to be recognized in the United States following examples established in the classrooms and curricula of Australia, England, and most recently, Canada. In order to protect, promote, and preserve media literacy, proponents must recognize the conditions and characteristics that for so long impeded the movement. The optimists who believe that success is inevitable might take a sobering look at the long, sorry history of both media and technology in education. The successful history of the media literacy movement in Australia, Canada, and other countries indicates that the idea emerged from creative, independent teachers working at the classroom level. Various departments and ministries of education later followed the example set by teachers and mandated the role of media literacy in the curriculum. Antagonism has historically existed between the educational aims of the American classroom and the entertainment aims and values of the mass media.
