State Rep. Tim Briggs has it all figured out. The Democratic legislator from Montgomery County believes we need to teach our children how to spot fake news on social media.

Last week, Briggs introduced House Bill 661, which would require the Department of Education to establish a media literacy curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade 12.

Briggs says his proposal would prepare students with the critical thinking skills and knowledge to evaluate the accuracy of news stories for themselves. He says the past election cycle “saw a rise in fake news on social media that put misinformation out into the public sphere for the purpose of misleading voters.”

There’s a small problem inherent with expanding the curriculum into new realms, a problem that’s been alluded to in recent Eagle editorials. When you add new material, you have to take time and other resources away from other important subjects — like history and civics. Gosh, do we even teach civics anymore?

We lamented last week that few Pennsylvanians recognize the name of Violet Oakley, our state Capitol’s muralist and the provocative themes of her murals created a century ago.

Here’s another almost-forgotten name: Marshall McCluhan. Remember him? He’s the author and scholar who coined the phrase: “The medium is the message.”

Medium, as in singular form of the word media.

Medium, as in a painted mural, Facebook or Twitter. Or a newspaper.

In his 1964 book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, McLuhan argues that the consumers of information get so focused on the content of the information that they lose track of how the medium itself is shaping the way they think and behave. Keep in mind that McLuhan made this point a full decade before the first primitive home computers were introduced.

Rep. Briggs seems to be advocating lessons in critical thinking: development of practical analytical skills aimed at making sound judgments. We would hope such thinking would already permeate the existing curriculum of our public schools.

As for social media, it should be remembered that technology does not make a newsgathering operation, no more than a pickup truck and a toolbox constitute a construction contractor.

Newspaper reporters and editors must go out every day and renew their reputation for reliability and truth. We’re not perfect. We haven’t dispensed with the corrections section, and don’t plan to.

But McLuhan had a point about the medium. You know what you’re getting when you pick up a newspaper. You shouldn’t need a K-12 curriculum to tell you that.