Enforcement of Media Literacy Education in Primary School

The development of technology is unstoppable. By connecting to internet, people can

access anything, anywhere, and anytime they want. For instance, when the teacher gives an
assignment, people nowadays are leaning on Google or any other portal to find the material
they need. This phenomenon is called as media literacy. Media literacy is defined as the ability
of people access and evaluate the media critically (Pratiwi & Pritanova, 2017). In this millennial
era, media literacy is necessary, particularly in educational sector because media and education
are related each other. Media literacy has potential role to develop students’ ability in
occupying their intelligence, communication skills, and critically to think also creative (Santoso,
2015). These days, not only students in university or tertiary, but also primary students are
rarely using conventional books as habitual medium in studying activity. Their parents and
teachers are also letting them to use internet for their study source. Sometimes, students
cannot focus on searching what they need and they face too many distractions in accessing
internet, such as chatting apps, unrated video, pornography, violence comic, and gaming
activity. It can be a big matter if parents and teachers are not fully controlling their children.
Therefore, primary students need media literacy education to prevent those problems. Thus,
media literacy education should be enforced in primary school curriculum.
Primary students in these days cannot depend on conventional books only, but they
need others learning techniques to increase their skill and creativity in this modern days.
Teachers and parents must be aware of this situation. In Michigan, National Association for
Media Literacy Education or NAMLE conference are gathered to show the significance of media
literacy build creativity, communication, critical thinking, and other skills (Jensen, 2012). By this
conference, media literacy needs scholars and educators to take more action in enhancing their
ability to comprehend the media and how literacy works on the students well (Jensen, 2012). It
is shows the essential of media literacy if school use media literacy as a part of school
curriculum, but the lack control of media literacy using as a learning method can have them
adopt bad behaviour. Bad behaviour here means like imitating fight in the movie, doing sexual
harassment like in explicit content, and others (Rahmi, 2017) because they are on imitating
stage. It may be so if the teacher or other educators do not comprehend media literacy using as
well. Everything without control must be bad thing. Preventing this problem, school can use
some applications interactive learning media. For example, the school can use Youtube Kids
mode if the learning sources is video or through the youtube. Thus, school curriculum has the
rule to be the controller of the media literary using.
Millennial students are only relying on gadget and technology without exception the
primary students. They cannot live without internet connection even in one second. Social
media takes a big part in their concentrations when they are connected (Neverkovich et al.,
2018). Moreover, if media literacy education exists in their school, it can lead them to be media
addict (Geraee, Kaveh, Shojaeizadeh, & Tabatabaee, 2015). In fact, media literacy curriculum
has the importance to build student creativity in accessing and making information. Media
literacy education are able to use their media addiction into the positive realm (Rahmi, 2017).
For instance, if the student can apply the method of media literacy, they can make their own
learning sources or they can make a blog to help others in learning process. Not only blog, they
also can utilize youtube as their learning medium in the form of visualization. Also, media
literacy can evolve their ability in communication feature. Social media is their key to
widespread their creation also can make new relations globally.