High School Newspapers

The quiet death of numerous high school newspapers is indeed a dismaying trend. Part of the problem, it seems to me, is the type of thinking articulated by Richard Brown, director of administrative support services for senior high schools, when he states: “If the basketball team wants new uniforms, if you need new choir robes, are you going to buy those things or put out a newspaper?” The sub-text seems to be that any number of things would be a more valuable investment than a school paper.

Student apathy is a reality, but the censorship issue your writer touched on has helped engender some of that apathy. When a principal pulls a factually accurate article from the school paper simply because it casts the school in a negative light, how do you expect to motivate students to participate?

The Noise, which I edit, seeks to be a source of enrichment, information and entertainment for area high school students and teen-agers. Several teens contribute articles. I never cease to be amazed not only by their writing skills and degree of literacy, but their enthusiasm and ability to meet deadlines. But then, we treat them as professionals and we don’t censor them.

NORBERT SPARROW

Burbank