A brilliant idea proposed by Andrew Rotherham in his School of Thought column.
So here's a modest proposal: newspapers and broadcast networks are sitting on a trove of material that can be converted into curriculum and sold — yes, sold — for use in our nation's schools and universities. Digitizing these so-called rough drafts of history would not only bring to life many of the events and ideas that students (and adults) should understand as informed citizens, but would help a struggling industry expand its revenue sources.
He goes on to provide examples of media companies in America that are already doing something on this score, and also what more can be done.
This isn't an idle fantasy. There are already some efforts under way. A few years ago, NBC used its video archives to launch a curricular tool for teachers that is designed to supplement Advanced Placement classes. The site offers a free 30-day trial; after that, schools have to pay an annual subscription. Even though television archives contain just a part of our national story, teachers can use contemporaneous footage to craft engaging lessons about events such as the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the energy crisis of the 1970s.
Print archives go back much further, of course, and a project called Chronicling America, which is run by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, is digitizing newspaper archives for classroom use. The New York Times offers lesson plans linked to specific articles and groups these plans by category — and yes, one of them is civics!
Meanwhile, Time and other publications offer free access to their amazing digital archives. But that content could help students even more if it's aligned to academic standards about what students need to know and put in a format teachers can easily incorporate into lessons.
I wonder if there have been any such efforts in India. If not, this is eminently doable by Indian media companies, especially by the print media - they have a veritable treasure trove in their archives.
