Listening and Propaganda

The first thing I think about when I hear the word listening is hearing. People often think they are the same but they are DEFINITELY not. Hearing involves just that, being able to detect a sound, a music note, a voice. Listening involves processing what is heard. I think that people take hearing and listening for granted. Like many other things, we don’t realize how precious and valuable a sense and resource these two are until, sadly sometimes we lose that ability for whatever reason. I think that our level of interest to the subject or person affects our listening/hearing sensitivity. I’m very guilty of hearing instead of listening. For example, when my mom tells me about her day but I’m more interested in the Minesweeper game I’m playing. I hear what she’s saying but I’m also trying to beat my high score, so I don’t listen. I think the assumption that because one can hear one is listening is one reason why our students are struggling the way they are. Listening is a skill that takes time to develop and mature and teachers need to make sure that the difference between these two is taught early as well as the ability to do either/both. Maybe if we listened to half of what we hear, we wouldn’t be so deceived by propaganda. I enjoyed the in-class activity. Seldom do we stop to think about what we’re seeing and being told. We may listen to the propaganda with one ear-set (instead of a mind-set) when we should be listening with a different, better, and more effective method. Critical listening instead of aesthetic listening is better suited to ensure that we aren’t hoodwinked by those things that are just too good to be true!