9/3/04
Television can do better at covering schools
Am I crazy, or is there something very strange about local TV news coverage about education and youth in the last week? Here in the Twin Cities at least, there was a huge amount of attention to rather strange things at the state fair, and relatively little coverage of really big issues facing schools, as they open this fall.
Perhaps this was set off by almost 2 minutes of coverage to strange hats that young people and adults were wearing at the State Fair, compared to about 15 seconds of attention given to the opening of the nation's first (charter) high school that is designed to serve deaf students. The point isn't coverage of charter schools - it's the huge lack of much substantial coverage of what's happening with our schools this fall.
Yes, there was some coverage when the State Department Report cards came out recently. But there was not much substantial coverage about controversies over testing, or other ways to measure progress in schools, beyond standardized tests.
Actually, there is one part of education that gets a fair amount of coverage - high school sports. I like sports. I coached youth teams in softball, baseball and basketball for more than 15 years. And I was on both high school and college sports teams. But there is a lot more to schools that sports.
K-12 education happens to be the biggest single item in Minnesota's budget. We spend literally billions of dollars on schools.
I'm not suggesting that TV coverage should focus only on what's wrong. Here are a few stories that I hope TV stations would consider covering:
- What are some of the most successful schools around the state doing, that other schools could learn from?
- Given the huge debate over testing, what are other realistic, practical ways to judge a school?
- Why are growing numbers of families choosing charter schools or other alternatives to the traditional district system?
- What are schools doing to attract and retain excellent teachers in areas like math and science, where there appears to be a shortage of qualified applicants?
- What are districts doing to run more effective special education programs?
- What are examples of outstanding youth/community service programs around the state, where young people are helping to solve local problems?
These are only a handful of possible stories.
Perhaps I'm getting grumpy in my old age (just had another birthday, and I'm now 56). I'd love to know what you think about TV coverage of schools. Email me at jnathan@hhh.umn.edu.
But folks, there are plenty of important stories about our kids, and our schools. Television provides information to many, many people in this state.
Personally, I hope TV can do better.
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