Proposal for Study Overview: Draft 1

Education in the 21st century is full of challenges at all levels. New ways of accessing, analyzing, critiquing, transforming, creating and sharing information require a systematic transformation of schools, focusing on skills more than knowledge. This, coupled with a growing multilingual and multicultural population, particularly in inner cities in the United States, presents a new social problem: how can students whose primary language at home is other than English come to understand the society they’re living in and become active participants of the 21st century citizenry while maintaining their own cultural integrity?

Countless students at all levels of education are facing this problem today. While it is imperative that they learn English, which is the language of power in the United States, it is also important that they hold their own identity, strengthening it in front of their new reality. To tackle this it is important to understand the kind of society they are and will be part of. Inner city life, as we know, is permeated by media messages that, in most cases, are not well understood by our growing citizens. The bombardment of advertisements, TV shows, movies, music, billboards, flashy signs and other media with commericial purposes manipulates and brands them to the point that they adopt new ways of living without being ready. Are they understanding what it means to dress in a particular way, or what the economical implications of getting the latest gadgets/fashion/music player mean? Are they fully aware of where these products are made, or how the process of manufacturing them affect the country where they or their relatives originally came from? It is very important that they come to understand all this so they can make the best decisions at the time of consuming goods.

I propose a study titled Bilingual Media Literacy that takes aim at answering all these questions in the classroom, where students can make critical analysis of media messages and decompose them, finding the true intentions of each. This literacy is engaging, meaningful and transformative. When students start to understand how we are manipulated into consumption they develop skills to confront media messages, empowering them to make better decisions and produce responsibly. A high level of social responsibility that can ensure the continuation and continuous improvement of our way of life must accompany future citizenry. Social change must begin in the classroom, where memorable experiences will help create a more responsible and aware citizen.