We don't need no steenkeen education

The United States joined Belgium, the U.K. and Japan this week in opting out of a new standardized test for students to determine whether children can spot and avoid fake news, Business Insider reported Tuesday.

Department of Education officials rejected a test from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) designed as a "global competence test" that would test students' ability to tell when data is being presented in a misleading way, and the difference between fact and opinion.

Twenty-eight other countries, including Australia, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines, will implement the standardized test in schools, which will launch later this year. The test is given to 15-year-old students, usually high school freshmen or sophomores.

[...]

"We consider it to be an important innovation, but we want to allow it time to develop and crystalize into an operationalized assessment with a solid empirical foundation to validate its technical stability," [a Department of Education spokesman] said.

  The Hill

That's an automatic "A" for stringing together a bunch of words that sound meaningful but are pure bullshit. Who thought that one up?  Brilliant.  That could be a question on the test.

1) Is the following an example of misleading or clear and concise information?
"...crystalize into an operationalized assessment with a solid empirical foundation to validate its technical stability." 

Good God. Can you imagine what might happen if fifteen-year-olds in this country could spot bullshit?  How could politicians and corporate swindlers keep the upper hand if citizens knew what they were really about?

The Brits, God bless 'em, have drilled down to the most important aspect of discerning truth from fiction as they see it, and they don't mind saying it outright in plain English.

"All schools are already required to teach pupils to have a mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs, so in order to not place additional burden on them, we will not be taking part in this smaller scale Global Competence assessment," a spokeswoman said.

Who are they trying to spare additional burden - the teachers who have enough on their hands just trying to quell racism or the kids who have enough on their hands trying to not be racist?

It's pretty telling that's what you hear when somebody suggests news literacy.

I'd like to know what Japan and Belgium heard, but the report doesn't tell me.  I'll have to mark the article down several points for failing to provide enough information.