Center for Scholastic Journalism Blog

Ohio House Bill 407 now under discussion could mean schools that use up their “calamity days” might substitute online work instead of extending the school year.

In the Midwest, of course, “calamity” usually means snow days, and 2009-2010 has been a bad one for those. Other parts of the country have had the same problem this year. In a story from WDTN in Dayton, “Snow days could be made up online,” by Jordan Burgess (Feb. 24, 2010), both a video and print story cover the suggested change.

What do you think? Could it work from a learning standpoint? What would teachers have to do to make their material appropriate for the Web? Would school districts have the technical support to help them do so? Or would it just be busy work?

Could it work from a student standpoint? What are they missing when they don’t have class? Could reading or writing or viewing a video take the place of what they miss?

As someone who knows online learning can be both rigorous and thorough, I know it COULD work with the right support. But….what do YOU think?

According to the Associated Press, a Texas college football coach said he was proud of his players for taking all 2,000 copies of his school’s student newspaper. He’s quoted as saying, “This was the best team-building exercise we have ever done.”

Their excuse for the theft: The East Texan, Texas A&M-Commerce’s publication, ran a front page story in its Feb. 25 issue about some of the team’s players being arrested on drug charges. That article, by the way, included information about two previous incidents at the same apartment — one involving a high school recruit apparently sick after smoking marijuana.

This story generated some discussion on the Journalism Education Association’s JEAHELP e-mail distribution list. The original post came from a member who questioned at what point could we forgive our students if they had been working “incredibly hard all year” but made one mistake? Would we quit being proud of them for that one mistake? And, he asked, what would we want the coach to say?

Respondents on the 1,000+ list immediately pointed out this was more than just a little mistake. It was malicious, it cost more than it might seem because of the lost advertising revenue, and, gosh darn it, what they did was illegal.

Wayne Brasler of Chicago said it succinctly in his post: “The coach could say, in simple plain English, ‘My guys should not have taken the papers, but they are great athletes and great people, and I hope everyone remembers that.’”

This may not have been the best example of an ethical dilemma, as the one who first posted it later admitted. But his question was valid. Where IS that fine line between supporting kids when they make mistakes and requiring them to take responsibility for their actions?

Or maybe it’s not that hard after all. We can support them WHILE they are accepting the consequences of their actions. That’s how they learn hard lessons, and that’s how adults help them develop their ethical compasses.

And it’s one lesson the Texas football coach — and thus his players — don’t appear to have learned yet.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 23, 2010

http://www.jeasprc.org/45words/

http://twitter.com/45wordsFacebook group: 45words

STUDENT PARTNERS JOIN JEA PRESS RIGHTS COMMISSION TO ENGAGE AMERICA’S YOUTH               IN FIRST AMENDMENT DIALOGUE

Journalism Education Association’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission created Student Partners as a way to help students connect with their peers to support, protect and spread awareness about the First Amendment.

February 23, 2010 (Manhattan, Kan.) – Just in time for Scholastic Journalism Week, JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission (SPRC) introduces a new student group called Scholastic Press Student Partners. Students represent schools from Arizona, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Seoul, Korea.

The eight public and private high school students were selected from applicants nationwide (and some international schools) to promote First Amendment awareness by opening dialogue with other students around the country via Facebook and Twitter. In addition to planning and hosting press rights events at local, state and national conventions, the team is creating a scholastic press rights awareness campaign entitled 45words. They can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/45words and the Facebook group is 45words. Although the group has already held meetings over the web, it plans to launch nationally April 15 – 18 at the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association Convention in Portland, Ore.

Each of the students wrote essays that accompanied their applications, sharing their thoughts about the First Amendment. Some of them have experienced censorship, while others have enjoyed all of the freedoms guaranteed to the professional media. See their individual statements below:

Morgan Brewster (The Mustang Express, Multi-media Editor) of Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, Ariz. says the First Amendment means freedom, “Freedom to express myself anyway that I want, whether by speaking out in one of my classes, to writing about controversial topics in my articles, to practicing a religion which I believe in.”

Christopher Kim (The Tiger Times and Kaleidoscope, Copy Editor) Seoul International School, Seoul, Korea believes the public has a right to the truth though some truths are ugly. “The First Amendment guarantees our right to talk about these ugly truths; the court is there to expose those who misuse these rights and whereas there have been cases of libel and otherwise unethical practices, there are far more cases of important truths being revealed for all to know. The risk is one we have to take.”

Zachary Knudson (The Crier, Managing Editor) of St. Francis High School, St. Francis, Minn. wants to continue to fight to keep student press rights for students in his own community and to broaden the reach into other communities in the state and nation. “It is important that we have students fighting with a passion to keep and inform other students of our rights to free press,” he said, “So that we will not be shushed or written off as unqualified to report because of age.”

Meghan Morris (The Spoke, Assistant Managing Editor) of Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa. quoted John Milton. “‘Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.’ This liberty is the essence of the First Amendment, and the core of journalism. Through freedom of the press and speech, journalists have the power to better our democracy, an influence that few Americans ever have, and an influence that too few high school students fully understand. As a Scholastic Press Student Partner, I will raise awareness of the First Amendment and its relevance to both high school journalists and high school students in general.”

Zoe Newcomb (The Broadview, News Editor) from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco, Calif., has experienced censorship first-hand and said, “The job of a journalist is inform people about the events around them that are important, a job which cannot be done without the rights given to us by the First Amendment. I think a lot people take for granted the gift of freedom that we are given — so many people around the world do not have that luxury. I want to be involved in what goes on around me, and not just be a bystander.”

Ted Noelker (Central Focus, Managing Editor of Multimedia) of Francis Howell Central High School, St. Charles, Mo. wants to be a part of any effort against censorship, having seen the effects of censorship on others and within his own publication. “Censorship is an action which I believe occurs all too often unjustly. I know the hard work that goes into making a high school newspaper, and I know of the frustrations of having that work carelessly tossed aside under inadequate reasoning. I wish to offer my support in resisting acts of censorship in high school publications.”

Sara Rogers (The Hi-Lite, Cover Story Editor) of Carmel High School, Carmel, Ind. said the freedom of the press allows her to thoroughly fulfill her duties as a journalist every day without hesitance. “While I don’t seek out controversial topics, it is important to me that when those issues do arise I am able to cover them. As a journalist, it is my job to educate and inform students and other receivers of our 5,000-circulation publication. I’ve always considered my voice and pen my two most important tools. I am grateful every day to have the opportunity to speak my mind freely. Seeing the oppression and censorship of other countries really solidifies my drive to preserve the rights and freedoms stated in the United States Constitution.”

Joseph Weber (The Kirkwood Call, Features Writer) of Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Mo. said, “From the moment I wrote my first story for The Kirkwood Call, I knew where I belonged. Going out of my way to get an interview, staying up until 2:00 a.m. to finish a story, it has become my passion. Where most high school students have no idea what they are going to do when they leave school, I already see my future: A journalist. But the journalism world is changing more drastically than ever. It is up to my generation to lead it in the right direction. Some may see the newspaper as a dying industry, but I see an opportunity to reshape how everyone receives, uses and appreciates the world of journalism.”

Founded in 1924, Journalism Education Association (JEA) is a volunteer organization that supports free and responsible scholastic journalism by providing resources and educational opportunities, by promoting professionalism, by encouraging and rewarding student excellence and teacher achievement, and by fostering an atmosphere which encompasses diversity yet builds unity. For more information about JEA go to www.jea.org.

The Scholastic Press Rights Commission is a group of JEA members who help educate, advocate and empower student journalists to use their voices and find a role in their schools, their communities and their democratic society. In addition to student support, JEA SPRC also provides information and resources to teachers and administrators. For information on SPRC go to www.jeapressrights.org.

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By now, the story is out there, from NPR to cnn.com.  The latter titled its article, “School Laptop Spying Allegations Raise Privacy Questions.”

You bet they do!

Allegedly Harriton High School near Philadelphia used the webcam on district-owned laptops to spy on students in their homes. At least that’s what the Robbins family contends in its lawsuit. Son Blake, they say, was disciplined based on photos from the remotely activated camera in his school laptop. The “inappropriate behavior,” he said, did not include drugs, as he was accused, but Mike and Ike candies.

What he was or wasn’t doing is beside the point. Although the school reports the webcams were used to find “lost, stolen or missing computers,” the potential is obvious. School laptops could convey everything from the family dinner table conversation to the 13-year-old girl getting ready for bed.

Meanwhile, NPR reported in a follow-up Feb. 24 that students in the district are covering the camera openings with Band-Aids or sticky notes. And, while the district denied using the access for anything more than security needs, now its Web site says, “The District had already disabled the security feature in all student laptops and has demonstrated good faith in its continued cooperation with the Federal inquiry.”

The “Laptop Security FAQ” on the district’s site is also of interest. For one thing, it says students CAN cover the cameras. And “the district is reviewing other technology areas in which the intersection of privacy and security may come into play.”

Lower Merion definitely had a major crash at that intersection. Perhaps the media attention to the Robbins’ suit and the district’s acknowledging it should have been up front about the “spying” capabilities will be a warning to other districts that might consider or are currently doing the same thing.

At least is should be a reason for student media everywhere to investigate what’s going on in their own schools. They could be the traffic light at that intersection.

Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE

Scholastic journalism doesn’t need resuscitation. It needs a burial. The carcass is rotting. Let’s do it now.

Everybody, it seems, is pronouncing today’s kids dead between the ears, numbed and dumbed by social media chatter, non-stop game-playing and, generally, a dearth of active human engagement. My gut tells me that most of this is baloney, and I’d bet one of my meager paychecks that today’s kids know far more about current events than we did growing up; even inactively they absorb more info than any of us oldsters ever had a chance to encounter.

But this is an argument for another day.

If kids have a problem today — and I’ll concede they do for argument’s sake and to justify all of the typing ahead — let’s put the blame where it belongs: on a scholastic journalism education system that was designed to fail.

Yes, designed.

Only in the past 20 years have we seen professional media and academia pour on the serious juice to save scholastic media, and I dare charge that the motivation in each case was self-serving (readers, listeners, future students). Nonetheless, what many of us have learned in those two decades is that, structurally, scholastic media was never intended to succeed.

Here are a few head-scratchers I’ve come up with (and I’m sure others have, too) after two decades of knocking around high schools, journalism teachers, principals, curriculum directors and, of course, students:

1. Why do we classify journalism as a language art? It’s a social study — that is, a study of relationships between people and people, people and institutions and institutions and institutions, and the outcome of those relationships.

So what, you ask? So this. Imagine if a student’s orientation were outwardly oriented — focused more on what’s actually going on than on how to deliver a vague message drawn from a vague understanding. How much different would the stories be if scholastic journalism engaged their interest in the goings-on around them rather than their desire to please a teacher’s quest for higher standardized writing scores.

2. Why do we still have pulp high school papers? Kids want to know what’s going on now, not every three or four weeks. Sorry to those of you with award-winning newspapers and magazines, but your publications have never been relevant to your student bodies if you’ve been on month-long cycles. Nobody’s waiting for the high school paper to tell them what’s going on. Get it?

3. Relatedly, why do people ostensibly devoted to teaching the young ignore the education potential of live student media? We criticize the value of things kids pay attention to, yet we don’t take advantage of an opportunity to replace it with serious, real-time journalism focused on their lives. Do we learn from life? Sure, that’s a rhetorical because we all know the answer is yes. How many engaging discussions could be had of real-time school news? How much more relevant would school life be if accurately reported and discussed right now?

 4. Curriculum writers fib. Well, at least when it comes to journalism. The description of the classroom course work usually says something about offering students instruction on proper journalistic practices, research and interview techniques, editing, etc. Rarely do you see the course description clearly promise instruction on how to determine what is news in the context of an audience, and how to be fair and ethical. Why? Because the administration most often expects the adviser to see that kids are writing about safe subjects, and when the topics do get relevant, that’s when the principal wants into the action.

By the way, if you really intend to offer instruction in proper journalistic practice, why do you so often assign somebody who has never had journalism training to advise the staff? Learn as you go doesn’t work in this business, not unless you’re begging for trouble or the principal wants to ensure an excuse for poking his/her nose into the paper at any desired moment.

5. This brings us to publications policies, the codification of administrative disinterest in real learning.

First, about that adviser. Why doesn’t every publication policy require boards of education to find certified journalism instructors, or to train uncertified teachers within a prescribed period? Again, I can be suspicious (and most certainly am), but if this doesn’t speak of ill will toward journalism as a discipline, it does expose administrative ignorance or a desire for control.

Second. Why don’t publication policies lay out very specific methods to resolving disagreements between administrators and students — methods that recognize First Amendment rights and take advantage of teachable moments? If they do address such potentialities at all, it is usually with a heavy-handed assurance that the school brass will have the last word. Nobody feels good about that. Nobody learns.

6. Finally, why doesn’t every school district have a media literacy program that starts in the first grade and ends with the 12th? Dig the reality, folks. Once a student gets out of formal education — be it high school or college — the media will take over the teaching. Do we really believe our kids are prepared to properly evaluate all they see and hear these days — not to mention those subliminal messages they neither see nor hear but somehow absorb? Do school districts offer students instruction on how and why the media do their work, how to properly evaluate it and make decisions? We know the answer is “no,” but will any lesson be more important over the long haul?

Add to that, this: Every one of us who uses the Internet is effectively a publisher, with the one-finger-tap ability to reach every other Internet user on the planet. This may get us closer to the free expression goal envisioned by our founding fathers as they framed the First Amendment, but it also is laden with responsibility for fairness, accuracy, ethical behavior, etc. Are we ready to assume that load? If not, isn’t it the responsibility of school systems to make us so — our kids particularly?

My hat is off to those who slave each day to improve the scholastic journalism landscape. My feeling, though, is that this landscape requires a bulldozer, now.

Paul LaRocque of the SPJ Ethics Committee calls for the major media groups to begin educating the public about news, REAL news. He says they need to “show the public the difference between noise and information.”

That’s just the job, too, for scholastic media organizations. The JEA Press Rights Commission blog has more details about this.