Knight Life welcomed some new guests into their classroom on Monday, December 16, 2019. The desks in K6 were pushed into a circle and the reporters’ lunch had been moved around to accommodate their presence.

This is far from the first time Knight Life has had presentations from  reporters or educators from other countries in the classroom. During the 2018-2019 school year, Knight Life hosted a group composed of reporters from different countries in Africa, like Angola, and earlier this year they welcomed a group of Filipino educators who taught about media literacy. 

The group KL welcomed this time were a media literacy educators from the Netherlands who came with questions for them rather than the other way around. Many of their questions focused on social media usage and the KL’s publications on the website. Some of their questions focused on what classes were offered at Loy Norrix High School to teach digital literacy.

“I think schools should have more classes that focus on critical thinking because a lot of social media problems are caused by people sharing without thinking,” said KL copy editor Colin Carnell. 

The visitors themselves specialize in teaching digital and media literacy, something many people find becoming more and more important. 

KL reporters asked in return if the Netherlands have anything similar to America’s First Amendment. The answer was yes, and it is called “Grondwet.” One of the things that the visitors stressed in this answer was that Grondwet protected much more than speech. It also protected the freedom of education. Grondwet allows for the founding of schools with curriculum rooted in any religion so long as they also include certain state-mandated curriculums. 

“I thought it was interesting that their version or the closest thing to the First Amendment includes freedom of education,” said staff writer Natacia Branstrom. 

Visits like these give Knight Life important insight into how other nations use social media, media in general, and how American media is perceived elsewhere. 

“I think it definitely benefits Knight Life and gives us insight into global journalism and experience with speech rights outside of the US,” said Carnell.