"Is vaccination a progress for the health of mankind?
"" Are the Gauls the ancestors of the French?
"" Was Saddam Hussein the possessor of weapons of mass destruction?
Here are three subjects on which the students of a second class from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) worked on this Tuesday afternoon.
The exercise carried out in the form of workshops did not take place at the high school but at the MJC (house of youth and culture) of the city as part of the launch of the “Des-Infox” device.
Sometimes powerless to develop critical and distanced reading of media and social networks to young people, the educational community is getting organized.
“Des-Infox”, piloted by the confederation of MJCs, is the result of two years of work including academics, journalists and education professionals, and is supported by the State.
The objective is to train 200 workers by the end of 2022 and to educate more than 100,000 young people within five years.
Fourteen teams will be deployed throughout France from this fall.
Launch of #DesInfox media education tool at the #Mjc de @MJCLesTerrasses de @VilledeConflans.
Reception of a second class who discovered the tool.
#EducPop pic.twitter.com/phSWnjYry9
- Confederation of MJCs of France (@CMJCFofficiel) September 28, 2021
The location of the national launch was not chosen by chance.
Almost a year ago, on October 16, 2020, college professor Samuel Paty was assassinated by an 18-year-old Chechen terrorist following a hate campaign on social media.
The 47-year-old history-geography teacher died beheaded because of the initial and derisory lie of a 13-year-old college student who accused him of having stigmatized Muslim students during a class entitled "Situation of dilemma: to be or not to be Charlie ”and dispensed ten days after the attack.
The father of the schoolgirl had sparked controversy around the course by posting videos on social networks where he shouted at the teacher.
To read also Assassination of Samuel Paty: "I lied" ... the confession of the schoolgirl at the origin of the controversy
“It was traumatic,” says Alexis, 15. Imagine that a professor who does only his work can be killed ... We attack our freedom of thought. "" Yes, we have to educate people on social networks, summarizes his friend Matteo. And these workshops are beneficial. "
Supervised by two facilitators, the pupils of the Jules-Ferry high school were led to reflect on information and manipulation by developing their critical thinking.
From "we say" to scientific studies, including the words of experts, they classified the sources before ending up slipping into the shoes of a journalist.
"But Madam, I believe in the benefits of vaccines but we do not have enough perspective on that against the Covid", launches Ryan to the host.
"I am not here to give you the right or wrong answers but simply to give you reading grids on points of vigilance", Nadia replies.
"We provide an agile tool for the worker"
"We fight on a daily basis to explain to students that social networks are not the absolute truth," says Virgil Jager, senior education advisor at Jules-Ferry high school.
The Samuel Paty attack was very, very violent for them and for the teaching staff.
For our young people, it is a patriarchal figure that we bring down, a reference of authority… ”
“Beyond the atrocity of the facts, and without claiming to stop all terrorists, we are simply trying to do our part, adds Maïka Guérin, regional director of MJC Paca and leader of the Des-Infox project.
Despite the many existing media education tools, the subject remains complex and delicate to handle.
We provide an agile tool for the worker, and which equips young people to be more independent and responsible on the networks.
"