Actually, the military is not allowed to recruit in our school these days. But one common thread in the presentations by Rick Rodriguez and Sharon Bramlett-Solomon’s (pictured left) talk today.
The topic of Diversity was something I had been looking forward to on the Institute agenda because it was the lack of it in our local daily paper that made me want to take over the journalism program at our school. Of course, diversity means so many things to so many people. At the most common level, it is a goal (achievable or not in our lifetime) to guarantee that an institution (in this case the news media) fairly, truthfully and responsibly reflect the different communities and cultures that make up our society. It can be on a local level with our school papers or local papers. It could be the big national papers and the news media. If you want to look broader, it could be the media in general – taking into account advertising and entertainment.
I was inspired by Rick Rodgriguez’s personal story and how he took a stand for diversity when he ran the Sacramento Bee and now heads up the Borderlands Initiative at the Cronkite School. It was a matter of the right time and place, but it took vision and perspective for Rodriguez to do what it took to protect diversity in storytelling and as well as the people who can tell those stories. And it took guts.
I was also stirred up by Bramlett-Solomon’s challenge for us as high school journalism advisors to take the initiative and recruit students who would enrich our news teams and perhaps give these individuals the experiences that Rodriguez and Bramlett-Solomon had. If we do not make an effort to find and hook students who might not sign up for journalism to feel welcome and challenged and empowered, we go back to the status quo.
Also, my colleague Alma Macdonald made a point that I think we need to remind ourselves – journalism advisors should have and show the same kind of curiosity, open-mindedness, and willingness to get out of our comfort-zones that we want our students to experience.
Thinking of that, I recall the best documentarians about China and Chinese culture were non-Asian. Two of my favorite authors writing about Chinese culture and history are Edgar Snow and Mark Salzman.
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Actually, in California, there was a recent court ruling that schools cannot prevent military recuiters access to students on campus. It was in reaction to a situation in the Oakland area and from some of the northern counties.
ReplyDeleteI wish our district would do something to prevent their access to our students since they seem to feed on the less priviledged of our student body; those who seem to be without postsecondary direction.