Canyon Lake Middle School eighth graders watch CNN daily in social studies class

Eighth graders at Canyon Lake Middle School in Lake Elsinore, Calif. watch CNN every day as part of their social studies classwork. 

Parents Defending Education reviewed the school’s eighth grade social studies lesson plans for the 15 days school was in session from Mar. 28, 2022 through Apr. 22, 2022. For 14 of those 15 days, the first item of classwork listed in the lesson plan was:

Watch CNN 10…MAKE SURE ALL CNN ASSIGNMENT SHEETS ARE COMPLETELY FILLED OUT TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT.

On its website, CNN describes CNN 10 as “the network’s longest-running show” for “on the go or in the classroom.”

CNN 10 provides the show “free of charge” on its CNN 10 webpage, YouTube channel, and via a free “daily email for teachers” subscription service with links to the day’s episode and a quiz teachers can give to students about the episode’s content. Each CNN 10 episode includes a “shout out” from the show’s host to one subscribed teacher’s school.

At Canyon Lake Middle School, the daily CNN assignment includes watching the CNN 10 episode and “filling out” a “student news guided worksheet.” Students are asked to “describe the news stories” and list their favorite “story of the day” and “pun of the day.” Students are quizzed on CNN 10 episode content.

During the Mar. 28 through Apr. 22 time period, Apr. 4 was the only day that the class did not watch CNN 10. On that day, the homework assignment was:

Watch CNN 10. MAKE SURE ALL CNN ASSIGNMENT SHEETS ARE COMPLETELY FILLED OUT TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT.

Recent CNN 10 episodes include:

Apr 22, 2022: “The Biden administration appeals a mask mandate ruling”

Apr 21, 2022: “Responses vary widely to an upcoming change in U.S. immigration policy”

Apr 20, 2022: “A judge overturns the Biden administration’s mask rules for mass transit”

Apr 19, 2022: “Tensions over Taiwan spread to western Japanese islands”

The CNN 10 webpage includes links to “special edition” student resources from something called the “youth voices collective.” One of these resources is a video titled “objectivity in journalism.”

CNN claims “the show maintains a neutral position on controversial topics.” According to a statement on its website, “it seeks to provide multiple viewpoints, clear illustrations, and general overviews instead of graphic descriptions.”

There has been recent controversy about the CNN organization.

In a study published on Apr. 1, 2022, researchers found watching CNN has a powerful effect on viewers opinions about current events. In the study, researchers “recruited a sample of regular Fox News viewers and paid a subset of them to watch CNN instead” for the month of September 2020.

The study shows “switchers” to CNN “changed their minds on many issues.”