CENSORSHIP

Students Want to Show Concern;

Schools Prefer Good Local Image

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CENSORED

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Editors of high school newspapers, turning away from articles about school spirit, football games and school dances to topics of national interest, are meeting opposition from school officials.

Administrators censor pupils who attempt to cover abortion, drugs,

vandalism, homosexualSusie ity or the draft on editorial and news pages.

Image is the issue. Gharib

And school administra-

tors do not want parents to have a bad image of their school.

PRINCIPAL Gary H. Deutschlander of Berea High School opposed publication of an editorial in the Focus last year favoring the legalization of marijuana. He explained:

"The paper has to represent the school and the community. Parents are tense about what they read. But they would accept three versions of a controversial issue.

"If the paper gets in the hands of students with extreme views, parents will start asking what's happening at that school."

At Olmsted Falls High School the principal cut out an article from the Spotlight in which a pupil interviewed Santa Claus. Santa was quoted as saying that both he and his reindeer "eat weed to fly high on Christmas Eve.'

"The principal told us it was nothing the community would laugh at," said a staff member of the Spotlight. "He said we write the paper for the community.'

A PUPIL of the James Ford Rhodes

High School Review said the school "builds its pride on being the No. 1 school in Cleveland. And when there was a lot of vandalism, fights and the spirit went down, the principal didn't want any more of a bad image to get to the community."

Staffers of the school paper were censored when they tried to oppose the dress code, endorse U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern for president, argue for pupil parking and review the film "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask."

Even though the paper is financed through pupil fees and advertising, principals and advisers maintain power over

content.

Pupils who complained to the principal for excessive censorship were told they would not get good college or job recommendations if "they weren't good to Rhodes," according to Rhodes Review staff members.

THE CLEVELAND Board of Education recently released administrative guidelines for student newspapers which stated:

"Students maintain the right to express themselves freely."

One Cleveland school official said they still cannot permit pupils to endorse political candidates even though some pupils may now vote.

"We're not going to turn the schools into political battlegrounds," he said. "The student papers are the voice of the school. And even though they serve the students they also reach the hands of the parents.

WAPAKONETA HIGH SCHOOL pupils face the problem of inheriting the alma mater of astronaut Neil A. Armstrong.

"America's youth is growing up they no longer concern themselves

• ..

solely with sports, dances and broken pencil sharpeners."

"I sit on one side of the desk, with community concerns, and the editor sits on the other side. We are tugging on both ends of the rope."

"The principal said we're the school from which Neil Armstrong came from and we should try to set a good image for the community and the country," said a staffer of the Lantern, the school paper.

"In April the Lantern was the target for criticism for printing a cartoon of the Neil Armstrong Museum surrounded by high-rise hotel and office buildings and with two persons selling drugs.

The cartoon was in reaction to a recent change in a zoning ordinance, allowing commercial development, said a Lantern staffer.

"THE NEWSPAPER should be a journalism laboratory where students can experiment," said John Bowen, adviser to the Lakewood High Times. "Most principals look at it as a public relations paper which is supposed to show the good image of the school to the parents. That's the problem."

"Students can determine what is good or not good to be in the paper," Bowen added.

At Parma High School publication guidelines for the student paper prohibit pupils from writing negative reviews of school plays, on the grounds that students are not professional critics.

"How are they to judge if the acting is good or not?" asked Joan Benny, adviser to the Parma Chieftain.

She added:

"But students never have wanted to write negative reviews on school produc-

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