Paper writes story of star high school player's failure to graduate

It's a great point. Is the kid in a bad school system that did not properly prepare him for the tests? How many others from same school did not pass the test?

Does the state of Texas give exceptions for kids with learning disabilities?

It really sounds like this poor kid got little help from the school

 

If you don't write about kids who get bad grades, are you really serving your community and fulfilling the higher calling of journalism?

 

I don't know if it still works this way, but back when I was in school, you had to pass all your TAKS standardized tests your junior year so you didn't have to take any in your senior year. So he must have not passed them his junior year and had to retake them in your senior year. Kids start taking these tests starting in 3rd or 4th grade. If I remember correctly, a lot of teachers are against measuring kids' intelligence by a few standardized tests.

I never thought it should run on A1. But I still think it needs to run somewhere in sports.

 

This story could've run on the sports front if Galveston had one. Unfortunately, they have just one person (Jordan) for a 33,000 circulation paper.

 

It still won't get you a better job. It might make you feel like a "real" reporter for a few days, though.

 

It's simple: You weigh the privacy of the individuals against the public's right and need to know.

Your journalistic ego doesn't come into the equation. At least in theory.

 

Every single sports jockey who does something other than glorify athletes, obviously has a massive ego that must be fed by salacious gossip and negative stories.

 

When you get to the point where you are arguing that journalistic ethics require you to report on a high school senior who failed a test, you need to realize how absurd the situation has gotten.

 

I do hope there's a follow up tomorrow that shows the questions he got wrong on his test. Maybe some analysis on why he missed them and if there was an area that was causing him even more difficulty than usual. Perhaps a notebook that shows some of his other prominent academic failures.

 

You're here to entertain their parents and alumni hangers-on. Don't fool yourself.

 

Somewhere, there's a message board for McDonald's employees where they furiously discuss the ethics of telling a customer they have to pay 25 cents for an extra Sweet and Sour sauce.

 

Considering the editor in Galveston just recycled a column on education from 2007, I'm guessing "real" journalism isn't a priority there.