The State of Our Media
I am outraged by the quality of our local media. Perhaps it is the society we live in, or perhaps it is just sheer ignorance. Our local media places the emphasis in all the wrong places. I believe that if the media would redirect their emphasis, then the quality of our education would increase.
There is very many times when students are not recognized for their academic achievements, but there is never a murder case that goes by without at least 3 newspaper articles about it. You might say, “But murders are more important,” and I would reply, “That is the problem.” Our youth are only seeing “bad stuff” publicized. For something “good” to be put in front of the blood and guts section, it has to be very good. Let’s face it, Blood Sells.
For example, when Science Academy was rated as the 8th best school in the nation, and as the best school in Texas by Newsweek, the article was put in the third section on the side column. On the front page was an article entitled “Hearing continues for Pharr teens accused of murder.” So, what we are saying is these Pharr teens who might have murdered someone are more important than one of the local schools being one of the 10 best schools in the nation. Maybe that is why we have these teen murderers.
Every time any team from the Valley advances out of district there is a full page story in the newspaper about the troubles those students have overcome. Perhaps the readers have not yet realized, that since the Valley is home to several different districts, every single year a Valley school will advance out of district. With academics, it is completely different. If a school has a state winning UIL team, then, if they are lucky they will get a paragraph or two inside one of the sections. I am not saying that it is not good to recognize the accomplishments of local high-school sports stars, merely to treat academics the same way. I never once read about Dennis Underwood earning first place in the UIL Calculator competition, or the Science Academy Science Team sweeping the state meet. If the McHi football team would be ranked one of the top 10 high school football teams in the nation, there would be many stories about them in the newspaper and on the local news. That should be easier to achieve than being in the top 10 schools, as there are less football teams than schools. Why do the academics get the side column, and the sports get the front page? Perhaps it is time for an “Academics” section of the newspaper. There are plenty of amazing things students are doing to fill that up.
All of the emphasis in our local community is being placed on the wrong things. Sports stars and serial killers are getting all the glory, while local students attending universities such as Stanford, MIT, Purdue, and Princeton on academic scholarships are being left in the dust of commercialism.
I would like to challenge the local newspapers and television stations to publicize as many academic achievements as murders and local sports scores. For every murder there is on the news, I expect to see a story about a local student getting accepted to MIT. For every sports score there is in the paper, I expect to here a story about how a first generation college student has had to make sacrifices all his life to be where he is today. Until then, I will stick to reading real news, online.