High School yearbooks and questionable content

berurah · August 31, 2006, 12:35am

I was very surpised about two weeks ago when my daughters brought home their high school yearbooks from last year. Both they and I were absolutely STUNNED at some of the content that was deemed suitable for inclusion into this publication. There was a full, glossy page of coverage of the pregnant students (several of whom were freshmen), significant coverage of a girl who had gotten married on the day of the winter formal and who decided, for some odd reason, to attend the dance in her wedding gown, and a page devoted solely to body “modification” through unusual piercings and tatoos.

Truthfully, I am simply at a loss to understand this.

Sometime last year, the little school newspaper ran articles on both the pregnant girls and the girl who married on the day of the dance. At the time, I emailed the principal of the h.s. and expressed my incredulity at the inclusion of this type of content in the school paper ( I also copied in the asst. principal and the superintendent). To me, this goes against everything that the school is SUPPOSEDLY trying to instill in its students. And yet, these behaviors were singled out for attention.

I received nothing…not even an acknowledgement of their having received my emails.

When the yearbook came out a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take my opinion public with a letter to the editor of the major city newspaper, as the school district had refused to acknowledge my letter of last year. It was printed just over a week ago. Since then, I have been innundated with phone calls and people approaching me personally, people approaching my husband at work, and even teachers approaching my children at school to say how much they appreciated the letter I wrote and the sentiment I expressed. This obviously strikes a chord with many, many people.

At the high school, however, the yearbook sponsor, who teaches various media classes, read my letter in front of the class and criticized it soundly in front of several of my daughters’ friends. I’m GLAD that this was at least ADDRESSED in the class (and I already KNEW that we had a fundamental disagreement on this issue ), but again, I am puzzled as to HOW any h.s. teacher could think this was appropriate content for a HIGH SCHOOL publication.

I have heard the reasoning that teen pregnancy is a part of life now, even school life, so it should be represented in the high school publications. And to that I would answer, so are DRUGS, HEAVY ALCOHOL USAGE, RAMPANT SEX (just HOW did these pregnancies occur ANYWAY?? lol), RACISM, and in our school, blatant antiSemitism (as in, the physical attacks on my son, the incessant verbal abuse, and the swastika that my D recently found carved into a desk in her drama room). So, do they want to feature all of THAT too? I mean, WHY address ONE or TWO aspects of “high school life” and leave out all of the others??

The point, of course, is that NONE of these is a PRODUCTIVE behavior that will lead to anything remotely resembling school (or life) success, nor are they things that require ability, determination, motivation, ambition, or any other positive attribute or characteristic that the schools claim to value.

Even if you subtract out any moral or ethical objection to these things, they are simply not noteworthy. And to me, the yearbook and the school newspaper are for NOTEWORTHY events.

Last year there were some 25 or 30 pregnant girls in our high school. With attention and encouragement like this, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if tne number quickly rises.

~berurah

JHS · August 31, 2006, 1:51am

I don’t know. My reaction is more ambivalence:

Pregnant girls: It’s a constant, and probably irreducible dilemma. I don’t want to encourage high schoolers to get pregnant (and if they do I, personally, don’t object to their ending it), but if/when they do get pregnant I don’t want them to drop out of school or find it a hostile environment. I want them to feel OK about themselves, and to feel welcome – and probably that’s what their classmates do, too. Does that remove a social barrier to getting pregnant? Sure. Is removing that particular barrier going to increase the pregnancy rate among 15 year-olds. I guess, maybe, but I can’t believe it’s THAT much. There are plenty of other reasons not to get pregnant, even if you aren’t worried about not having your picture in the yearbook.

Tattoos: It’s the fashion. Your response is just going to make them seem cooler. I generally think they are disgusting body mutilation, but I know of no teenager who agrees with me. Are they legal where you live? (Here a kid can’t get one without parental consent until he/she is 18, some places it’s 21.) If the tats are legal, I don’t think they have the same status as beer or marijuana or anti-semetic harrassment. They’ll have lots of time to repent putting this in their yearbook; they are NEVER going to show it to their kids. But it’s a legitimate record of what was “in” their senior year of high school, and getting a tat doesn’t turn anyone into a depraved dropout. George Schultz reportedly has a tiger on his tail.

Anti-semitism: That’s awful!

I’ll bet ripping into your op ed piece made that teacher’s week, he felt so smug and proud of himself.

berurah · August 31, 2006, 2:17am

To the contrary, our school has provided an exceedingly WELCOMING environment. Some of the younger teachers spent excessive amounts of time discussing these girls pregnancies and situations in great detail DURING CLASS TIME. Remember, I have TWO daughters in this school who’ve had numerous pregnant girls in their classes. I think there is a fine line between providing a safe and educationally supportive environment for these girls and reinforcing this behavior through excessive attention (e.g. discussing having baby showers IN CLASSES and allowing the passing around of sonogram pictures constantly). IMHO, our school has crossed the line. I am not, nor ever WAS, suggesting going back to having damaging stigma associated with teen pregnancy. I am simply suggesting that a SCHOOL environment is not the place to HIGHLIGHT and REINFORCE it.

By contrast, my oldest son made nationals in debate his senior year and was the district’s SOLE winner of the Byrd Scholarship (among other honors too numerous to recount here), but none of that was mentioned at all. The kids who are doing positive things that ARE noteworthy are hard pressed to get a mention in their own school newspaper. Really, why should this be?

ROFLMAO It actually doesn’t bother me a BIT. I’ve had 30+ editorials and special pieces published by the paper, and some of them have been TRULY controversial and have garnered MUCH more criticism. BTW, it was a woman, not a man, and I’d LOVE to challenge her to use the same public forum I did to explain why it’s a GREAT idea to feature pregnant girls in the school newspaper and the yearbook instead of addressing this issue in front of a “captive audience” of students to whom she will be issuing grades eventually. lol

~berurah

citygirlsmom · August 31, 2006, 2:32am

wow, I agree with Beruhah…to me glorifying teen pregnancy, young marriage, tattoos, etc is unnecessary, no matter if they cause more of the same or not

As for the pregnant girls, they should be able to graduate, etc, but to have a special attention in a year book is just stupid…for one thing, it encourages the girls to keep the baby, when adoption would probably be best in some cases…

The tattoos, well I find them just tacky…me being a liberal and all…I do.I saw one young lady with lines right up the back of each leg like those old fashioned stockings…ewwwwww

The married one…lovely…how sweet…marriage while still in highschool and in he paper too boot, must have made her mama proud

kids make mistakes, they do stupid tacky things, but to say, hey, isn’t this soooo cool by giving them space in a year book and newspaper without talking about the negative side is bad journalism…

did they say, hey, why ARE these girls getting pregnant…did they use condoms, what about stds, what about the daddies, are they all stepping up and taking responsibility, financially, are they gonna work now to pay for the child…or the tattoos, what do people doing hiring think, what do dentists think of tongue piercing…

to me, why are the dads in all this ignored…that should have been at least discussed…

There is something to be said for presenting both sides…and in a newspaper, if they didn’t that was terrible editing, etc

In the year book…just really tacky and sad

citygirlsmom · August 31, 2006, 2:37am

the anti-semetic stuff is scary…I can’t imagine how that must feel…

but it just goes to show, if some communities, while trying to be so “hip” and cool and modern, other really sick stuff is ignored…

looks like that school has some problems with its priorities, safety being one, and having a student body that has a clue is another

evrytime_wetouch · August 31, 2006, 2:42am

"I generally think they are disgusting body mutilation, but I know of no teenager who agrees with me. " -JHS

I’m a teenager, and I agree with you. I am a new member, so I am not sure whether it is appropriate for me to be posting here or not, but I am disgusted to hear that such inadequate material was published in the yearbook. That would NEVER be allowed at my school. I hate being a teenager because there’s so many teenage-idiots out there that make even the innocent teens look brainless. Putting things about pregnancy in a yearbook is unadmissible and I know my mom would have a coronary if she ever saw something like that in my yearbook. What I find really ridiculous is that the principal didn’t even bother to do anything about it.

berurah · August 31, 2006, 3:16am

BINGO!!! EXACTLY. We live in a small, bedroom community outside of a city of about 350,000 people. Our town has about 20,000 people. What I find ironic is that the local realtors sell our town on its stellar educational system. We were duped when we bought here fifteen years ago lol. The fact is that the LARGER and more pressing items ARE ignored.

I should have seen the red flags years ago. When my kids were small, I was active in a children’s group sponsored through the school district, Parents As Teachers. Occasionally, some of us parents would get asked to bring our babies to the child development class at the high school when the students were studying children of various developmental ages. I went several times. The last time I was when I was pregnant with number 5. I found myself SURROUNDED by pregnant teens. Naively enough, I wondered where the teacher had found them lol. Of course, they were her students or their relatives.

I was so amused when I realized that the ages of two girls sitting on either side of me were COMBINED younger than MY age…and I was pregnant! :D

Anyway, I sat through each one’s story, listened as they informed their peers that having a baby at 15 or 16 wasn’t SO bad because their moms would watch the babies while they went out “partying.” sigh

When it was my turn to speak, I told the group of students that this could be done ANOTHER way. I told them that I had finished h.s., finished undergrad, worked for a few years, gone back for my masters, THEN gotten married, and THEN had babies. I was never invited back. Go figure! ;)

But, yes, to sum up, our school DEFINITELY has some issues with priorities (and good judgment).

~berurah

berurah · August 31, 2006, 3:22am

evrytime~wetouch~

WOW…you sound like an EXTREMELY astute kid. You’re right…it IS hard to have to live with the generalizations about teenagers when you’re one of the ones who shows good judgment. My kids feel the same way as you do. Hey…wanna come and work for our school district??? Thanks for posting!! ~berurah

ariesathena · August 31, 2006, 4:04am

Berurah,

Wow. Just wow. First off, a huge hug & congrats for making this an issue. It shouldn’t be ignored.

While I understand that it’s really sick to stigmitize pregnant ladies, of any age, I’m not sure that they should receive special treatment. There are still honour societies that will throw out pregnant students for “lack of character.” There’s a wide gulf between non-discrimination and special treatment… this is sad.

CGM is right - kids do tacky things - doesn’t mean they should be rewarded for it. Under certain circumstances, though, I could understand the prom/wedding thing - imagine that a couple has been going together since 8th & 9th grade; he’s in his first year of college, or in the Marines, she’s a senior, they get engaged, plan a date, and then, a few months before, they find out that senior prom is then.

Funny - you’re the political liberal in a conservative community, and YOU are the one saying that they shouldn’t be promoting teenage sex! Then again, in all honesty, if my home state were less pro-abortion, there probably would have been 25 girls pregnant at some times. One of my former friends from high school has had her second illegitimate child and her parents watch the kid while she goes out partying. Why not adoption???

The yearbook is a student publication and should reflect the students; however, that doesn’t mean that parents and teachers don’t have a duty to step in and ensure that the students are making a product of which they can be proud years from now.

citygirlsmom · August 31, 2006, 11:31am

It is not that they shouldnt be promoting teenage sex…“promoting” is not the word I would use…but it is glorfying and presenting pregnant teens in a way like mini celebraties, and if you think about it, I would bet teen sex was never discussed, just how cute we have all the pregnant teens at the same time, isnt it fun!!!

but rather, they should be discussing the consequences of unprotected sex, that having a baby is not all cute, and find out why these girls got pregnant, did they have information, did they WANT to get pregnant, I want kids to have information because they are having sex, and if they are how to protect themselves and not create them babies

What irks me, is where is the fathers in all this, the male half of the equation, do they have any part of all this, are THEIR dads going, son, this is now YOUR responsibility as well, i think if young fathers were held more responsible and were not let off the hock so easily, maybe other young studs would say, hey, let me get a condom before just doing it…

I of course don’t think anyone should be shamed or shunned, not at all, but there are praticle considerations here for the chilldren created and these males are often out of the picture…and they just move on…and people let them

that is what I find irksome

hereshoping · August 31, 2006, 11:41am

“Really, why should this be?” You’d have to understand the ultimate goals of our public schools, which is a long, long road. Most don’t want to go down it.

sjmom2329 · August 31, 2006, 11:54am

Berurah et al – I agree completely. To me, the special treatment that the pregnant girls receive is the issue. In some ways, it’s like the attention that suicide victims sometimes receive. Many public health officials are hesitant to have memorials etc for these tragic stories, since it can be seen as a way to glorify their choice. Several students in neighboring communities have died in car accidents in recent years. These are incredible tragedies for the families. But when school is closed for the funeral, and it becomes a school-wide event, I wonder what lesson is taught? I’m uncomfortable because I think it is important to support families in a time of grief. But why isn’t the focus on the careless activities that led to these accidents? In the same way, of course I support helping the pregnant girls finish HS. But no one should act as if this is a perfectly good alternative.

memie · August 31, 2006, 11:56am

I am outraged over this too, Berurah! There are so many other options for good high school yearbook features than pregnancy, tattoos, etc. Our school did a feature on siblings in the same school that is rather cute and interesting entitled “Can’t Live With Them…Can’t Live Without Them.” The senior superlatives are great because they are about really “off the wall” awards like “Ditziest,” “Most in Need of Having Their Rides Pimped,” “Best Smile,” etc. Then, there are other features about where students work after school, what they did over the summer, current fashions (no piercings or tattoos, though - piercings are only allowed in the ears by the dress code), and a section devoted to looking back at the childhoods of the seniors.

I hope to never see any articles about pregnancies or tattoos in our yearbook! If I do, I will follow your lead with a very active protest!

berurah · August 31, 2006, 12:04pm

Today, an almost IDENTICAL editorial appeared in the same city newspaper! So, I am not the ONLY one who is completely outraged by this! In fact, the woman who wrote it used one or two of my EXACT words, except she approached it from a moralistic perspective which I thought would be unproductive at best, damaging at worst (though I thought her piece was GREAT!), so I kept to stastically provable facts about teenage pregnancy/educational level.

I placed a call to the superintendent this a.m. and am waiting for a call back. The superintendent of last year has left, and this one is a man whom I have known for many years and who at least respects me. I hope he will be willing to start a dialogue on this at least.

Meanwhile, my husband received ANOTHER supportive email at work. YAY for the grassroots approach! :)

~berurah

ldmom06 · August 31, 2006, 12:09pm

I’m conflicted on this one.

My d was a yearbook editor her senior year and a reporter for the newspaper in the years prior. We had a similar issue at our school. Two years ago, the school published a yearbook that really freaked parents out. There was discussion of cutting, abuse, teen sexuality, etc. There was such an uproar that by my d’s year to edit, the constraints on content were very tight, and pages were run by the principal of the school before they went to Taylor. Instead of tackling controversial social issues which were forbidden, my d’s group made ‘inclusiveness’ their mission. So kids in the Math club, DDR club, STEP, etc… for once found themselves promininently featured along with the football players, drill team and cheerleaders. It was an admirable mission, but I feel torn by the censorship. When I was in high school and on yearbook staff, we had a wall of award winning college and high school yearbooks to study and use as guidelines. One devoted pages and pages to the Kent State massacre and I remember that book and those pages vividly to this day. I know that type coverage would be forbidden today in our school’s yearbooks and I just can’t believe this is always a good thing.

Motherdear · August 31, 2006, 12:15pm

This Fairfax County HS also did a bit of censoring this year. :)

<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402358.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402358.html</a>

atomom · August 31, 2006, 12:20pm

Features on teen pregnancy in yearbook? NO to that. There are dozens of teen mothers at the large public school my kid attended last year. They have a daycare, parenting classes, give away formula, diapers, clothes, etc. But this was not mentioned in the yearbook. What did they have? Tons of sports photos and a list of all of the ATHLETIC scholarships, but NO MENTION of National Merit Scholars (there were 2 in a class of about 800), Governor’s Scholars, or any other ACADEMIC awards or scholarships! The ads in the back were very amusing–parents put in embarrassing baby pictures, write horrible sappy poems–what a hoot. One parents’ ad featured their kid
riding a bull at a rodeo, “flying” on a fourwheeler, as a little kid with his first wrestling trophy, at prom with GF, and a picture of his truck–after he wrecked it (!?) That pretty much says it all about this school.

citygirlsmom · August 31, 2006, 12:23pm

I dont have a problem with discussing controversial social issues, its the creation of a special section to make it look like this is such a swell thing…if they showed the new moms all alone, up at 3 in the morning, interviewed people who had kids so young and that it is not all peachy keen, that would be one thing

but it seems that the approach was look at how cool this is- the tattoos, the piercings, the pregnancies without showing the reality and aftermath of making such choices…

It is not censorship to expect a fair representation of the issues…I think it is irresponsible of a yearbook staff to celebrate these teen pregnancies…To discuss it, to look at the long term effects, asking where are the males, that would be responsible, but to take cutesy pictures, eh, I find just sad

Say, the Kent State Massacre just represented one side…I know what happened, and it was tragic, but the entire event needed to be shown in context- the division in the country, the conflicted ROTC and National Guard Students, the student protesters, what makes a person trigger happy, the kids shooting kids, that kind of thing

I think having a section talking about the issues of the day makes a yearbook meaningful, but to just showcase what is a sad situation without at least noting its not the best of situations is just bad journalism

berurah · August 31, 2006, 12:26pm

ldmom~

While I understand your point, I think to some degree we are talking about two different things. First of all, as CGM pointed out, our yearbook did not give an objective account of any of the controversial issues. The articles were pretty much one-sided glorification. IF these things are to be included, I would think that emphasis should ALSO be given to the negative impacts of such choices: statistics about how many teen mothers end up finishing high school/college, how many teen fathers stick by their girlfriends emotionally and financially, and how one handles the situation when you DON’T have a mother to watch your baby while you go out and party and drink.

Inclusion is a GREAT, GREAT thing…but you mentioned things such as Math Club, DDR Club, STEP, etc. These things are noteworthy and require commitment, ambition, and dedication. They are on an ENTIRELY different plane that bearing a baby at an insufficient age to raise one, either financially or emotionally.

Coverage of something like Kent State would NOT be offensive to me. I see that as a totally separate type of issue.

I personally would leave the issues of teen cutting, abuse, sexuality, etc to other types of publications, like the city newspaper. To me, the function of a SCHOOL newspaper and yearbook is, in general, to support the concepts and values inherent in being a SUCCESSFUL student. There are many, many other publications, blogs, etc. to cover all of the other things.

I DO understand your issue with “censorship,” but the things included in our yearbook STILL make me squirm.

~berurah

emeraldkity4 · August 31, 2006, 12:31pm

I haven’t noticed anything that I thought should be censored in the yearbooks- except for maybe what they were writing in them!
And this is from one of the most outspoken public high schools in the country.
Then again I haven’t noticed any pregnant teens, and while minors dont need parental permission for piercing, they do for tattoos.
The school newspaper can be controversial, but has won national recognition, for writing and photography.
I would rather newspapers be a voice for the students, rather than easily digested pap that doesn’t offend anyone.
The yearbooks though are generally pretty straightforward.
Pictures of the students, the sports teams, orchestra etc.

THis reminds me of when the commencement commitee of Evergreen chose a man convicted of killing a police officer to give the 1999 address at graduation. If part of the process is to give students the freedom to thoughtfully make choices regarding their educational experience, we can’t censor them only when we disagree.

that doesn’t mean that parents and teachers don’t have a duty to step in and ensure that the students are making a product of which they can be proud years from now.
BWAHAHAH
have you * seen* yearbooks from the 70s?
For the hair alone they should be buried in a vault and never taken out.
Perhaps I am not old enough, I’m * only* 48- but I think it is more important that the students have a voice in what is printed in their yearbook- than they worry about what they will think about it in 30 years.

Coverage of something like Kent State would NOT be offensive to me. I see that as a totally separate type of issue.
but some would find that very offensive
how can you cover Kent State without criticizing the govt?

High School yearbooks and questionable content

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