Commentary; Posted: 9/15/04

TV can do better covering education

Joe Nathan
Guest Columnist

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 Minnesota State Fair, and relatively little coverage of really big issues facing schools, as they open this fall.

Perhaps this was set off by almost two 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 nationís first (charter) high school that is designed to serve deaf students. The point isnít coverage of charter schools ó itís the huge lack of much substantial coverage of whatís happening with our schools this fall.

Yes, there was some coverage when the State Education 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 ó 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 than sports.

K-12 education happens to be the biggest single item in Minnesota's budget. We spend literally billions of dollars on schools.

Iím not suggesting that TV coverage should focus only on whatís wrong. Here are a few stories that I hope TV stations would consider covering:

ïWhat are some of the most successful schools around the state doing, that other schools could learn from?

ïGiven the huge debate over testing, what are other realistic, practical ways to judge a school?

ïWhy are growing numbers of families choosing charter schools or other alternatives to the traditional district system?

ïWhat 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?

ïWhat are districts doing to run more effective special education programs?

ïWhat 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 Iím getting grumpy in my old age (just had another birthday, and Iím now 56).

Iíd love to know what you think about TV coverage of schools. E-mail 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.

The writer directs the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He can be reached at jnathan@hhh.umn.edu.

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