{"id":559759,"date":"2020-08-12T17:01:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T21:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=559759"},"modified":"2020-08-13T21:34:47","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T01:34:47","slug":"bergen-too-many-schools-lack-a-student-newspaper-when-schools-reopen-however-they-reopen-every-school-should-have-one","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/bergen-too-many-schools-lack-a-student-newspaper-when-schools-reopen-however-they-reopen-every-school-should-have-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Bergen: Too Many Schools Lack a Student Newspaper. When Schools Reopen, However They Reopen, Every School Should Have One"},"content":{"rendered":"

E<\/span>very day, it becomes increasingly clear that the road to societal reforms is steep and often crumbling. I\u2019d like to suggest one simple action we can take right now that will help pave the way for a more solid, stable future: When students return to school, however they return to school, every one should have some kind of student newspaper.<\/p>\n

For years, journalists<\/a> and scholars<\/a> have lamented the decline of student newspapers. In New York City, where I live and teach, as many as 900,000 students do not have an active school newspaper<\/a>. Last year, of the city\u2019s 584 public high schools, only 30 \u2014 5 percent \u2014 participated in Baruch College\u2019s annual NYC High School Journalism Conference.<\/p>\n

Why the dearth of public school student newspapers? Funding is an obvious reason. Yet in the small, Title 1 Manhattan high school where I taught for two years, I started a modest but enthusiastically received school newspaper in my own English class for far less than it would have cost to copy the typical volume of daily handouts (and the inevitable makeup-work packets). A simple online school newspaper (such as those profiled by Mark Keierleber in The 74<\/a>) might actually be one of the most affordable programs a school can undertake, not to mention one of the best ways, during this pandemic, to ensure that a school community stays informed and engaged.<\/p>\n

One highly recommended platform<\/a> begins at $400 per year and offers a free journalism curriculum<\/a>, as does the website schooljournalism.org<\/a>. The Journalism Education Association<\/a> offers technology and lesson plans, and the New York-based nonprofit I work with, Students Disrupting<\/a>, is a direct response to the dire need for student journalism in the city. Certain Google products, in addition, are free and simple to use, readily adapted to remote learning<\/a> and easily shared via social media. (One teacher I know says she thinks her journalism class was the only class not impacted by virtual learning.)<\/p>\n