By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Princeton High School students told Princeton Regional school board members and administrators Tuesday that more classroom discussions of global issues are necessary, claiming that increasing these opportunities would better prepare them for life after high school. The response they received left them disappointed, however.
A group of five students attended the meeting with four of them speaking about their need to see more current events issues discussed in school,
The high school students are members of New Jersey Students for Peace, an affiliate of the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action. These same students organized a staged mid-day walkout to protest the continuation of the Iraq War on high school property March 19.
During the meeting, the high school students said they thought knowing what’s going on in the world was even more important than mastering mathematics formulas and studying literature.
”We would like to propose a classroom elective for students outside of history classes, so students will have opportunities to discuss their opinions,” said Sarita Rosenstock, a sophomore at the high school. “The purpose of the class would be for the teacher to provide information and discussions to take place so that everyone gets the information citizens of American should have.”
The students also requested that the school’s guidance counselors be required to inform students about how to prevent military recruiters from contacting them at their homes through filling out “opt-out” forms.
Superintendent Judy Wilson told students that the school district kept parents well informed about this option by doing three mailings to parents of its juniors and seniors.
Ms. Wilson’s answers to the questions of bringing a new issue-focused elective and more debates and discussions on current events to the high school’s classrooms were unclear.
She said the faculty takes seriously the students’ desire to have more current events discussed in school and that this could be approached in different ways, such as in a class, club or forum.
”The Social Studies Department has been very proactive always in incorporating that into their courses, but their courses vary,” Ms. Wilson said. “They are happy to continue this discussion at the high school as is Principal Snyder.”
School Board members were not convinced that adding the issue-based elective was necessary.
”I’m not sure that creating a new course is the answer, but creating more opportunities within the school for debate … I think can be done within the spaces of our high school,” said board member Walter Bliss.
School board member Joshua Leinsdorf encouraged the students to do more reading on war in general and to consider how the readings assigned to them by their teachers provide them with a context for understanding the Iraq war.
”What I’m saying is, you may not realize it, but there’s a lot in your curriculum that is extremely germane to understanding the Iraq war,” Mr. Leinsdorf said. He added that a lot of people can’t go to college without going to war, because of their families’ financial situations and that Princeton High School students should be thankful they aren’t in that situation.
Although school board members and district administrators weren’t sold by the students arguments, some members of the public in attendance said they agreed with the students.
”I do support them and I’m very proud of their energy,” said Princeton Borough resident Mary Ellen Marino. “Before I was a politician I was a political scientist. It’s very hard to get current stuff inside the classroom. Teachers are afraid they’re going to get fired.”
In an interview after the meeting, the high school students said they were frustrated with the superintendent and school board members’ responses to their requests, but that they felt they were making some progress and would keep pushing the effort.
”I really felt like they were trying to brush us off, trying to tell us this is already there, but we know it isn’t,” Sarita said.