Letter: Garbage in means garbage out

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

During my junior and senior years of high school, my class really began to adopt and become passionate about a great variety of philosophical, ethical, and political stances. It was fairly easy to determine how each student felt about contemporary issues by identifying the sources of information they chose to engage in. There are few of my classmates, if any, who would say the kinds of books they read, TV shows they watched, and sites they navigated didn't have a profound effect on the way they see the world.

The youth of my generation has access to vast amounts of knowledge that comes as a result of our technological age. But, unfortunately, we are exposed to an even greater amount of misleading garbage. Without being taught to properly seek credible information, students are left to fend for themselves when trying to recognize worthy and unbiased sources.

Rush Limbaugh's take on global warming may seem as appealing to an unaided high school student as the take presented in the latest IPCC report. Our education system should take steps to teach students how to sift through the modern world's overabundance of information, to help us build our beliefs based on exemplary knowledge.

Bryce Gary Alex

Draper