Students Blocked From Publishing School Paper, Given 2 Hours To Write New Stories Or Fail
from the what-we-teach-our-kids dept
It's great what we teach our kids these days. Some students at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, put together their student paper, but the administration apparently freaked out because there were articles about drinking, smoking and teen pregnancy (you know, stuff that's actually relevant to students). So they blocked the publication of the paper and gave the students two hours to write new stories or receive failing grades (found via Poynter). Nice of them, right? The administration claims they just delayed the paper "to provide more time for editing and layout," though that's quite a different story than what the students are saying. We keep seeing stories like this, and at some point you have to wonder why more student publications don't just set up shop online, totally outside of the school district, and just publish what they want?
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Filed Under: journalism, student newspapers
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Hmm? Even if it were that, the school shouldn't have a say in what the students publish. And, demanding the rewrite in two hours or failure? You seem to have totally ignored that part.
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More information is needed on the particulars before such judgment can be passed on this particular case. But the two-hour re-write or fail bit does seem way off kilter.
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but c'mon & get serious here... are you seriously suggesting that schools running a school funded newspaper should not have any say in what the students publish?
that is shortsighted and such a lack of oversight is BEGGING for problems in todays over-litigious helecopter-parent times.
id rather they just flat not have a school paper than one with no oversight.
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What's even funnier is someone posting anonymously criticizing others for doing the same. What a hypocrite.
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Which is allowed on school campuses.
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Nobody's sending men in dark suits to their home to make sure they keep their trap shut.
It's as much 'censorship' as a school dress code, the inability of someone to start yelling in a court trial, etc.
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Face it, it's something done to give kids something to do, and to help give them a sense of pride and ownership over their school.
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What I don't agree with is that they should just go to an online format. First off, the student news paper is for credit so the school would STILL have say in what's valid for that credit. Second, there are so many articles on this site about how schools are policing student's online life, even going so far as to punish students for things they did on their summer holidays!
Going online wouldn't solve this problem....and might actually make it worse.
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Re: Re: Legality
> it worse.
Actually, it wouldn't because when the school tries to shut down an online, off-campus web site merely because it doesn't like the content of the speech presented on that site, it would be committing a bright-line violation of the 1st Amendment and the resulting lawsuit would set firm legal precedent (as if it's not already there) that public schools do not have the legal authority to do such things.
Frankly, I've always wondered why schools even bother, since it would be easy to work around their restrictions even if the courts *did* give them the legal latitude they desire.
For example, if I'm a student at Oppressive High School and I put up a website with articles criticizing the school and they tell me I have to take it down, how easy would it be to find someone else (a sibling for example, or a friend) who *doesn't* go to that school (and who is therefore not subject to the school's authority) to put the site back up under their name instead of mine?
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I haven't seen anything to indicate that they weren't given guidelines. But they were at least given a couple of hours to re-do their assignment. I know when I was in in school I only got one chance to do my assignments. Once I turned something in, that was it. If it was unacceptable, then I got the corresponding grade. So it seems to me that the school is being lenient in letting them re-do it at all.
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> chance to do my assignments. Once I turned
> something in, that was it.
On the other hand, math and physics and history assignments generally aren't subject to the politically-correct whims of the teacher.
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Credit
Because they wouldn't get credit for it. High school newspapers are usually done as part of a journalism class and, like most classes, there are requirements that must be met in order to earn credits. Apparently the students in this case missed those requirements.
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Re: Credit
i dont see why school newspaper should be censored if the point is to give student stuff that actuly consirns them
that is the point of the school newspaper right? i wouldn't know my school newspaper was mainly written form 3 generasoins ago point of view
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Re: Abuse
> learning environment.
The problem with that standard is that most school personnel these days define "disrupting the learning environment" as "anything I don't like".
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This fear of disrupting the learning environment is often taken too far. This may or may not be one of those cases, but to simply dismiss it as "They have a legal right to do so, it's totally ok" is as silly as applying that same logic to anything else discussed here.
Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's smart or beneficial to any of the parties involved.
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Of course even if they wanted to be a little less lazy, administration probably feels fine granting punishments for stuff on a student's 'personal' blog as much as they do for a normal blog.
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HEY want to write it and ill publish it
SEE some people aren't greedy and this idea you can steal anyone and offer these kids this.
sad to think the real issues scare the faculty of the school.
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I had a newspaper once...
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Something doesn't add up about this.
Let's be fair high school papers aren't the kind we see on TV where the overzealous student reporter challenges school authority. It's basically a glorified writing journalism class where you cover what the teachers tell you to cover. To me this sounds like a handful of kids got together, decided they didn't like the stories they were assigned, and decided to rock the boat. Then, when the stories weren't what they were assigned their little dreams of being Leonard and Bernstein were crushed.
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Been squelched myself
I read to the effect kids are bored and its small wonder 1/3 don't finish. My original high school kicked me out the day before a trip to D.C. because of my truancy. Luckily my dad pointed out I could go to what here is called Applied Technology Center. Took there prep test for the GED test and I received an actual diploma & my GED. Got my Associates Degree in little less than 2 hours.
The bullet point in this article of mine was why have we changed our education system from a Master slash Apprentice system of JUST 150 years ago. When at 12 you know what field your going to be in and study what you need from there.
I printed 100 copies and wanted to leave it on my original H.S. Front Desk for students to pick up. I was told no, just flat out no.
Guess options are a bad thing in public schools.
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Re: Been squelched myself
Why don't we use an apprenticeship system? First, very few 12-year-olds are ready to make a decision about their life's career. Second, fewer and fewer jobs work well as an apprenticeship. Third, an apprenticeship provides a very narrow education that does not introduce an individual to other interests and opportunities, and it leaves a person unprepared to deal with tidal changes in their industry. Fourth, the value of a broad education has been widely recognized and accepted. Just because you are a electrician, for example, does not mean that you should not be able to communicate, and those who can communicate well will be more successful as electricians.
Finally, of course you were told "no." You were no longer a student of the school, and you were demanding to place the article on the front desk, which would imply that the article had school approval. If it was written anything like your post, the school would not want to be associated with it. They are also not going to distribute something deliberately that sows dissidence into their student population. There are tons of places you can publish the article if you want it read. Put it online, submit it as a letter-to-the-editor, or staple it to light posts, but don't expect a school to allow a non-student to demand distribution of a poorly-written, controversial article.
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Re: Re: Been squelched myself
Psst. A 12 year old still knows how to make a choice... if he or she was given it. Or did you conveniently leave that out of your thought process before you posted. Rhetorical of course.
Just because it's "widely" accepted doesn't mean it works as well. The system worked for 19 centuries I wonder why.
Oh and btw the rambling disorganized content of which you speak was to brief the article without actually posting it.
And btw, the article was meant to open minds... who's are the freshest to the article it self.. Oh yeah a target audience.
Think before you speak.
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Re: Re: Re: Been squelched myself
Um, look up the definition of "rhetorical question." That wasn't one. Start with learning what a question mark is. It looks like this: ?
Yes, I understand the a 12-year-old can make a choice. I did not say they could not make one. I said that they are generally not PREPARED to make that choice at that stage in their lives.
"Just because it's "widely" accepted doesn't mean it works as well."
No, but it's a pretty good indication.
"The system worked for 19 centuries I wonder why."
Did it, really? Were people happy about being forced into a particular career because they had no other options? You're pissed about being "forced" into school for a few years. What if you were forced into a career you hated for a lifetime? Just because you think something worked in the past does not mean it worked better. Should we go back to arranged marriages, too? How about traditional male/female family and career roles? Or, how about re-establishing slavery? After all, all those things "worked" in the past.
"Oh and btw the rambling disorganized content of which you speak was to brief the article without actually posting it."
Then you need to learn summary techniques. Your post was just a mess.
"And btw, the article was meant to open minds... who's are the freshest to the article it self.. Oh yeah a target audience."
This explains why YOU wanted the article distributed. That does not change the fact that the school has a right to say no, and that it is complete unsurprising that they did. Just because you WANTED to distribute the article there does not mean you have a RIGHT to.
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So what happens in the real world? You think newspapers aren't censored and twisted? People learn young, that's all I'm saying. Nothing changes after high school except that those brats you went to class with are now driving SUVs and attending PTA meetings. Just sayin'.
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Seems like a poor lesson
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Same Old Crap
The Internet does make it totally simple to put out the original stories.
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First Amendment Anyone
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Defamation?
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Duh.
Because then you can't use your involvement in the school paper for a grade. Counts just like any other elective.
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Online isn't safe, either
I don't think that would do them any good. Look at the number of times you have run stories about schools disciplining students for things they have said online, outside of school hours and reasonable school jurisdiction. It has really come down to this: if you are a student, you have no free speech rights, whether you are in school or not.
Second, though, this paper is clearly for a grade. Setting up shop online would make sense for an extracurricular school paper, but not for a class. They still have to turn in work for the class, which puts it back within the school's control/jurisdiction.
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Re: Online isn't safe, either
I have, on occasion, seen a high school student or two do something not just for a grade, but for fun or to make a point. It's rare, but it does happen.
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A school newspaper refusing to publish content really is no different than the editor of a local paper refusing to publish articles written by his staff because they are poorly written or do not conform to the paper's views or those of it's readers.
When I was in college our newspaper was shut down over the issue of a cartoon that was racist and obscene (and poorly drawn) that was published and nearly caused a race riot on campus. The staff tried to hide behind the first amendment and quit in protest when they were ordered not to publish it any longer. Nobody cared except Domino's Pizza because all anybody got the paper for was pizza coupons and movie schedules.
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Yes, these organizations have a right to shut down their papers, but No, I'm not going to sit by and praise their censorship because they have a right to do so. Does anyone else care about free speech?
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Benjamin Franklin - "When we give up liberty for security we soon not have neither"
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...we soon have neither."
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