(Randy Swikle retired in 2003 after 36 years of teaching journalism and advising student publications. He taught 34 years in Johnsburg School District 12 in Johnsburg, Ill. During that time, his students and their publications won many state and national awards for journalistic excellence. Johnsburg High is a four-time recipient of the "Let Freedom Ring -- First Amendment School" recognition sponsored by the First Amendment Center of The Freedom Forum, the Journalism Education Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and Quill & Scroll International Honor Society for High School Journalists.)

Administrator Benefits from a free and responsible student press

By Randy Swikle

A free and responsible student newspaper makes a principal's job easier because it is a catalyst for discipline, involvement, and partnership.

Such a newspaper supports a school climate where discipline is not merely maintained but taught, where students are not simply aware but engaged, and where community partnership is not just cosmetic but penetrating.

Regarding discipline, a good student newspaper contributes to the maintenance of order and the strengthening of moral character. When a newspaper staff pursues significant issues and disseminates insightful information, it causes readers to think. That cognitive process produces rational responses to issues and events, helping readers to control their emotions rather than letting emotions control them.

As readers begin to understand the value of different perspectives, they learn to respect diversity. That respect helps build a democratic attitude that encourages civility during adversarial occasions and cooperation during other problem-solving situations.

Getting readers to feel good about themselves and their community further encourages appropriate behavior. By sharing school culture, promoting camaraderie, recognizing achievement, offering entertainment, presenting student input, and providing other services of the student press, the newspaper influences readers in positive, uplifting ways. Good feelings nurture good discipline and boost involvement.

Regarding involvement, a good student newspaper does more than present information; it inspires the application of information. It is not enough to be simply aware; a learner must be engaged. The value of knowledge is found more in its application than in mere awareness.

Students abandon apathy and become involved when they are touched by the dynamics of a good newspaper. The promotion of events encourages participation; the analysis of issues arouses interest; and the reflection of school culture invites immersion.

Because of the peer appeal, universal interest, and panoramic nature of the student press, no other institution in school has greater potential to excite learners toward engagement. Students value their newspaper as an invitation to participate-firsthand or vicariously-in events that are covered in the publication. They want to interact. Their increased awareness of issues prompts them to share opinions and to discover common ground. They want to be accepted. Their identification with school culture involves them in the activities, trends, images, symbols, and everything else that helps define their generation. They want to belong. Their involvement provides an opportunity for partnership.

Regarding partnership, a good student newspaper serves an educational alliance in many ways. By presenting student and reader perspectives, the newspaper helps the community feel the pulse of attitudes, interests, and priorities. By presenting news and in-depth reports, the newspaper helps the community access information that may help define goals and influence individual persuasions. By identifying problems, the newspaper helps the community work together to garner ideas and resources for resolution.

A free and responsible student newspaper contributes to the credibility of school officials and the effectiveness of a partnership process only when the newspaper itself is accepted as a full-fledged partner.

In a good partnership, the role of every participant is profound, not superficial. In that sense, the student newspaper cannot be relegated to subordinate status and assigned the limited purpose of showcasing school excellence. Rather, students must be treated with the equal respect accorded to other members of the partnership, including teachers, parents, administrators, school board members, and taxpayers. And just as those partners should not be silenced, the student newspaper must be recognized as a forum for free expression-controlled by the students and restrained only if expression exceeds the parameters of law. Nothing damages a partnership more than the suppression of information that should be shared.

What principal doesn't want better discipline, more involvement, and effective partnership at her school? A free and responsible student newspaper, nurtured by competent educators, can help a principal achieve those goals, thereby making her job significantly easier.

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