Today, for history, I popped in a DVD that I received free of charge from a source that I knew was probably unreliable. I knew it would likely be filled with bias and possible revisionist historical accounts, but I also knew that it would give a good skeletal account that my children are in need of. My husband happened to be home at the time and questioned why I would use this DVD. Here was my response, which he agrees with, by the way. 🙂
My children will one day leave the house, will be exposed to all sorts of erroneous information. They will either have to sift through tons of “stuff” to find the truth, or they will absorb it all and believe everything. So, now is the time to show them and expose them to some degree what they will be blasted with from the news and politicians. Since my daughter is learning Logic this year and is taking a current events class, I have become more aware of the need to have them learn to be aware of the wolves in sheep clothing – the bent of the author, the goal of the speaker, the agenda of government.
So, before we proceeded too far into the DVD, I said, “Look, these people are trying to get you to feel and believe a certain thing. Are they credible sources? Do they have all the facts correct? Do they seem bent on you feeling and believing something? This is how you must evaluate what you hear, read, and watch.”
We don’t just learn facts in school, we must learn to be think about, evaluate, and dissect information. And, ultimately we rely on God to give us wisdom which he gives liberally to those who asks.
A Cup of Grace 