Truth as a basis for schools

The problem is that humans crave - desperately crave - emotionally reassuring narratives. Simple stories of good vs evil. Heroes and villains. Oppressors and oppressed. A model of the world that tells us that We are responsible for the good things in our lives, and They are responsible for all the bad.

However, the truth is usually complex, nuanced, and hard to grasp. Most of all it's pitiless; the world doesn't care how we feel. Expect the honest pursuit of the truth to make you feel nothing so much as confounded by dilemmas and trade-offs a good part of it is that humans are primed to pay close attention to threats. If you tell someone they are under threat, they'll not only sit up and pay attention to what you are saying, they will take you seriously. There are clear evolutionary advantages to reacting to any potential threat over dismissing things out of hand as a false alarm.
Introducing the narrative of threat to people is a very effective form of manipulation.

They band together into tribes for protection, they suspend nuance, they follow the leader.
This is what populism and news sources  thrive on.

What was initially about grabbing people's attention to make money has become a political force.

Politics and journalism

are merging as their aims and methods align.

We assume people are already prepared, but many aren't, and "propaganda" has damaging and insidious impacts, the stakes for our society are really high.

To bring in schools based programs would be fairly simple, cheap to do, could be implemented quickly and has huge benefits across society.

Educational leadership from the north continues, thanks Finland !

Lying, lack of critical thinking and lack of transparency should be challenged wherever they are found.

Primary school children,  are active rather than passive consumers of information. Unfortunately, those were in the days when you could express some individuality in the classroom. Now every lesson has to fit rigidly within a scheme of work, and unless the school sees it as a valuable skill; it’s not worth doing.