The kids are alright: high school students tackle tough issues

It was late October and I was standing in a seminar room before more than 60 Iowa high school students.

What are the most important things on your school year calendar and what are students at your schools talking about? I asked the group.

I was leading an exercise at an Iowa High School Press Association conference in Iowa City. The students in the room produce their high school newspapers or yearbooks.

The big dates on the calendar seemed benign if you are far removed from those days: high school football playoffs, prom, pending graduation. The same could be said for some of the things students were talking about at the time: teachers, specifically teachers they don't like; getting from one class to another; homework; gossip – lots of gossip.

But other thoughts may turn your head. They ranged from having to deal with the deaths of more than one classmate to pregnant girls trying to get through high school. Pretty heady stuff. Some of these students have endured a lot of personal matters while trying to grow up and they think serious thoughts about those matters.

Almost all of these high school students writing for their school paper or yearbook are headed for other careers. They just like the extracurricular activity that comes with writing, shooting photos or editing something their peers will read.

This is true even at a time when many school districts facing tight budgets increasingly consider the school paper or yearbook to be expendable.

What a disappointment that is because these students' experiences at their school papers and yearbooks will benefit them as they move into whatever career excites them. Applying skills like discovering, writing, reading, editing, presenting ideas, being aware of what's important and, especially, thinking analytically and critically are vital regardless of the career.

In some instances, these students explore serious matters and express themselves in ways that relate to young people in way parents, teachers, administrators and casual observers cannot.

Hopefully, some of them will consider journalism as a profession. I heard a lot of good thinking in that room.