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NHS good outweighs bad, do you see it?
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Public schools have a special place in my heart. That’s not news to anyone.
I was educated in a public school system, and I’m a big supporter of the Natchez-Adams School District and the Concordia Parish schools.
I’ve reported on everything from 4-year-old President’s Day plays to superintendent oustings in the Miss-Lou’s public schools for more than four years.
And I’ve met the most inspiring, dedicated, loving, hard-working folks in the area public schools.
The challenges in public schools are unlike the ones anyone else faces, and there is no changing that.
One of those challenges reared its ugly head last week when four members of the Natchez High powerlifting team were arrested on charges of grand larceny.
But the challenge isn’t that students got arrested — that’s a problem that happens at almost every single school in the area.
The challenge was in public perception.
Now, before I go further, let me direct any of you who were upset at the way this newspaper handled the story to my online blog on our Web site. Just visit www.natchezdemocrat.com/weblogs. It’s the first one on the list, and it may serve as some explanation of our actions. You don’t have to agree, but please read.
Human nature is to remember the negative and forget the positive. So news about arrests sticks better in the public mind than news about good deeds.
It’s a shame that the alleged actions of a very small percentage of the Natchez High population reflects poorly on their teammates, their classmates, their school and their district.
If the public only saw things with the negativity filter turned off — or even down a little — the arrests wouldn’t outweigh the good news coming from the Natchez schools.
The public might be more apt to remember the art skills of Darryl Dade, who recently won an art contest for the Mississippi Braves team and won the right to throw out the first pitch at one of their games.
They might remember the courage and competitive nature of Kristy Sikes, a special education student at NHS, who competed in the Special Olympics last week.
The sounds of Alethea Stewart, Edwin Smith and Tremaine Ford — all NHS choir members who were honored as members of the Mississippi American Choral Directors Association All-State Honor Choir — would ring in our ears.
Najee Myles and Krystal Luss would be remembered for giving up a Saturday morning in early March to pick up trash downtown as part of a spring cleanup day.
Kendall Logan’s achievements on the field, court and classroom would be top of mind, much like they were at the National Football Foundation banquet where he was awarded a $1,750 scholarship.
Lee Screws Jr. would be in high demand for his ability to repair computers. The Future Business Leaders of America conference in Jackson recognized him with a first-place award for computer problem solving, why can’t his own community?
These students are only a small spattering of the talent, smarts and good behavior you can find at Natchez High. They were all featured in the newspaper over the last two months, but there are more where they came from.
Yet, it’s likely their awards won’t be as remembered as the rap sheets of four of their classmates.
Unfortunately public perception is a fact of life.
One way or the other, the public schools’ image problem is a community problem that needs attention.
Bad things will always happen. But when we let them run the way we think of our public schools, we are only making a tough situation worse.
Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by fightingthebattle (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 12:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well Said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by acedog (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 4:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
are job as a community is to lift are kids up, not kick them when there down. the kids made a mistake and they should pay for it,but the way the democrat handle this story rub a lot of people the wrong way. i know your job is to write interesting stories that will sell papers,but dam. are yeah sells that bad that you have to embarish a school and single out a program that is doing good.the power lifting team has been one of the most productive teams at the school. good job of doing feel good stories to try and get that bad taste yeah left in my mouth and a lot of your other readers,but its going to be a while before it leaves my mouth.
Posted by SayItRight (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe someone should go back to high school undercover like Drew Barrymore did in "Never Been Kissed" and see just how it feels and what is endured by students in this present day school system. I imagine it would make you appreciate the students who do excel.
Posted by triscuit (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the real danger is that these kids are going to feel like they were entitled to take the four-wheelers, because of the inappropriate backlash against the Democrat, both herein and out in the real world. And the public perception is mirroring one of the teachers of todays' kids biggest complaints: the parents don't back us up when their kids get punished. "You are punishing my child, but I have some really flimsy evidence that you didn't punish so&so when they did something, so you have to rescind the punishment of my baby, and therefore he will feel like he did nothing wrong and can be as bad as he wants."
Posted by Spanky (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 10:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have read all of the comments and it looks like if the commentators could vote on the U.S. Constitution today then the first amendment would be abolished. The press has a duty to report the news and the news is several school students and former school students made bad decisions. If I were these bad decision makers and was looking for adult approval on my bad decision making then I would not have to look any further than these blogs. acedog committed 6 lines of text and over 5 lines are blasting the paper for reporting and eleven words admitting someone made a mistake and should be punished. That is not a mistake that is a crime. The mistake was thinking you could take someone else’s property free of charge. acedogs was just an example of other comments made by other folks. It appears the only punishment some of these folks want issued is against the paper. I believe the Natchez Democrat has done a great job in reporting the news.
Posted by Yeahuhuh (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think the backlash against the paper is to support the students engaged in wrongdoing. I think it is designed to support all the other students and the school in general against an association by word that many feel was simply unnecessary.
And I don't think free speech is challenged when people take issue with a headline. The paper can say it how it wants and the readers can say what they want. Readers can be so outdone they don't read the paper any more, but I doubt that will happen on this.
I want to thank and commend this paper for putting in this service to publish comment. They didn't have to do that.
It's a good paper in general and it is good to have the dialog here. But everyone makes mistakes.
Posted by acedog (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
again these are kids and kids do mistake,but it seems like everytime something negative happens at a public school its front page news. i know for a fact, not here say. that the sheriff dept. has been to Trinty day school and found all kinds of drugs on that campus,but you never see it on the front page of the natchez democrat and further more nothing is ever done about it. They don;t arrest any one ,just dispose of the evidence.
Posted by iomo (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 5:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Human nature is to remember the negative and forget the positive. So news about arrests sticks better in the public mind than news about good deeds."
When the good deeds get first page press just as the bad news does, the public may remember it much better.
Posted by ijohnson (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 12:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So, Julie, we challenge you to visit NHS and give us more positive stories about all the good things happening there with good students and teachers. We WANT to read more positive things . . . up front and center on the front page. Maybe, just maybe, the good will outweigh all the bad that has been published which has cast a shadow on the school as a whole and the community it serves.
Posted by amr161 (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 12:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great article, Julie!
Posted by goodwitch2008 (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice article Julie....
There truly is more good about our school and maybe even our community than there is bad. It hurts and angers me when I see all of the negativity and one sided stories. But what really bothers me is the comments that people leave. They have no clue what they're talking about sometimes, they merely go by crazy untrue rumors and they just kick half of the community down and they seem to think that they are "holier than thou".
I agree with most of the things you said. I wish our world wasn't like this.
Posted by Perro (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 12:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was so very impressed with this article and this young lady! Thumbs up for presenting your side of the story in such an honest and intelligent way! Remember people public education and its employees or doing all they can! Before you down them see what or how you can help! We know there is always room for improvement. Most schools openly welcome volunteers for any kind.
Posted by retired (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have just decided to stop shopping at stores that advertise in the Democrat. If future businesses from out of town wanted to locate in Natchez, they would say things I read on their blogs helped me change my mind about locating in Natchez. We are not going to put our employees in a community still operating in a 60s mentality.
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