While their parents watch their retirement accounts shrink, teens no doubt see something else in the dropping Dow and the government bailout. How can school media make this story relevant to their readers?
A few ideas:
- Private schools are experiencing enrollment declines and offering more scholarships, with tuition out of reach for some families, reports Poynter’s Al Tompkins in his daily story ideas column, Al’s Morning Meeting. What’s the trend in your area, at your school?
- How has the economy changed the way your students live their lives? The Campanile, student newspaper of Palo Alto (Calif.) High, profiled a student who bought a Segway, a two-wheeled electric scooter. It plugs in, so no gas to buy. What other strategies do students use? The paper also featured a roundup of secondhand bookstores. Could that reflect changing buying habits, or alternative ways to spend a night out that don’t cost much? MSNBC reported last spring that it was already happening then.
- What if a student’s family loses a home to foreclosure, or a parent loses a job? They move and adjust to new surroundings. They get a job, bum rides off friends and boyfriends, even contribute money from their paychecks to pay the family’s bills. The ABlast, of Annandale (Va.) High, tells that story in Students suffer under the deteriorating economy.
- The Grizzly Gazette from Granite Hills (Calif.) High asked students if the government should bail out Wall Street, and results were split down the middle when I looked, with about 100 votes cast.
Students care about the economy. Student media can help them understand it and see how it affects the lives of people they know.
