Lately I’ve been thinking that high schools should offer students a class in how to lie. Topics covered would include
- How to lie with statistics
- How to lie with graphs and charts
- How to lie with maps
- How to lie with audio clips
- How to lie with video clips
- How to lie with (current and historical) quotations
- How to lie with Biblical quotations
- How to lie with selective presentation of the truth
- How to lie with invalid “logic”
Of course the real purpose of the class is to teach students how to recognize when they are being deceived. Students or teams of students would do projects that illustrate they understand the various techniques either by analyzing lies told by others or by creating their own lies in the form of essays, audio clips or videos.
Projects might include things like
- Show that diseases are caused by something other than bacteria and viruses
- Show that the moon landings were faked
- Show that Elvis is likely still alive