Program offers intro to politics, media
RINDGE, N.H. — Thirteen high school students arrive today at Franklin Pierce University for a whirlwind introduction to politics and how the media covers it.
The campus here in southwestern New Hampshire is beautiful this time of year, but the students won’t have much free time to appreciate it.
What I wish they didn’t notice was what a disaster zone politics and the press have become.
I teach the journalism part of FPU’s The Presidency and the Press program. Over the 13 years that the program has run, it’s usually been exciting to talk about the president, politicians and the press.
Now it can often be embarrassing.
As I look at the teenagers arriving on this beautiful campus, I can’t help but think that we adults have made a mess of things. But when I think of what these young people wrote in their essays, I start to feel that there’s hope.
Several of these students have attended the Presidency and the Press before. I know we’re doing something right when one of them writes that the program “was amazing, handson, eye-opening and intrigu- ing.” But it’s more than that.
They come here with their eyes open.
“The necessity of journalism with integrity is obvious,” one wrote. They also come with lots of intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn. Most of the students this year want to improve their writing and become better journalists.
These kids are also involved in community service. One has spent more than 60 hours volunteering at her school and her church. Another takes part in a student-run group that, as she puts it, “provides food-insecure students with weekend meals.”
What also makes me feel positive is that these teenagers even have something to teach the rest of us. “I think that learning to use facts and reasoning to back up your beliefs and opinions is crucial to being a contributing member of society,” one wrote.
And she is just 14 years old.