Am I Really Getting Really Old?

I was reading this article in the Trib about Stevenson's high school paper and I felt this wave of "wow this is absurd!" wash over me. I had wanted to write a post earlier about newspapers and the current state of. Hopefully I'll still write that post, but this is something I just can't wrap my brain around.

What I think is absurd is that there are parents going to the board meeting complaining that the Stevenson High School paper is now going to be reviewed before being published. I am all for a free press. In fact I think it's an absolutely integral part of our country, which is why I am extremely worried about all these presses shutting down and my local paper ceasing to exist. But I do not see why a High School paper WOULDN'T have prior review. This "Hooking Up" issue, at least to me, is NOT akin to students in the '60s wearing armbands to protest the Vietnam War. This is just so strange and I'm trying to see A.) how Maine South would have dealt with this (because I just cannot picture a hooking up issue even getting published) and more importantly B.) why parents would be outraged that now this paper is going to have prior review and C.) what the previous process for publishing a paper at this school was.

I haven't read the actual paper and I'm going to check around online and see if I can find it. Maybe there's more to it than it seems from the Trib article. I think a lot about this new generation of kids. That's partly because I am old and more so because I am a parent and I wonder what kind of world my kids will grow up in. I think constantly about how I can raise my kids not to succumb to that angst-filled "my life is so empty" crap that comes from growing up with so much and distancing your comfortable self from the plight of the literally millions and millions and billions of people in this world who really need help. People in our country and beyond. Because the enormity of what needs to be done is so expansive, that if there are ways we can help then that is what we should be doing. To me it seems that if you are spending all your time entirely wrapped up in your own life, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your community and our world. And what does this have to do with this h.s. paper issue? Well part of it's a non sequitur soapbox. But it slightly ties in to the idea that I think the students writing the paper are still young and still need guidance and still need boundaries and therefore the adults at that school and all schools should absolutely be reviewing the paper. Kids need guidance because they don't always know what else is out there, beyond their own life. (Hence the penchant to get all wrapped up in it - yeah it's a stretch.)

From the Trib article it seems there were basic violations of journalistic ethics in this issue of the paper. Violations which should have and could have been caught prior to publication. Should have and could have been caught by ADULTS. These mistakes could be a great tool for teaching. A school paper should be an introduction for curious students to get a feel for why papers are written and how papers are written, etc. etc. This should be a place where students can see the great power of the press, the great need for having a press. But students, especially in high school, are in school to learn. And they need to learn the fundamentals first before they can become e.e. cummings. This bizarre idea that, for instance, English papers should be evaluated on "content only" and not on grammar and spelling is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. The idea that math concepts like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can be "close enough" is wrong. It's the wrong way to teach and the wrong message to send, in my humble opinion. Also, from working at Cameron and trying to help 8th graders who cannot add, subtract or multiply to do Algebra, I have to say this is setting kids up to really hate school.
And in all of this I am not even addressing the content of the paper. I haven't read the paper and wouldn't comment on it until I read it, but I just hope that there was more than shock as the intention behind this issue, because I think it's hard enough for kids to navigate the teenage years without the endless focus on sex being hammered into them at every angle, including the school paper. The remark from the school spokesman about one part being a "how-to guide for sexual predators" is definitely disturbing. If it was an insight into what's going on at their school, ok fine. But there's a fine line that needs to be walked with this topic. Again I haven't read the issue so I don't know what was going on there. I just hope we can elevate society and get younger people excited about the power to serve others and participate in the world, rather than get so absorbed in their own day-to-day lives. I think an important step in that process is for educators to realize they play an important role in the formation of their students, and their job is to teach. Where errors exist, teachers need to address them. High school is a place of preparation. It does no one any good to mollycoddle kids so that when they get out into the real world they think their going to be a rock star because they're so kickin' at Guitar Hero.
Does that make any sense? I'm playing that lack of sleep card if not. Please don't grade this paper and send it back to me all marked up where you found the run-ons and lapses in logic. :o)