Local student challenges high-school stress

Jay Matthews:

Student critiques of adult cluelessness have long been as much a part of high school as Friday night football and backpacks. My best friend in high school, Dan Cummings, was suspended for publishing an underground newspaper eviscerating how our school was run.

Maddy King, a junior at Fairfax County's James Madison High School in Vienna, was similarly moved to vent recently, but being a teacher's daughter and a staffer for the official school newspaper, she opted for a long, thoughtful letter to Principal Mark Merrell. When posted on the newspaper Web site, the letter created a sensation. She exposed issues that often infuriate students and yet are blithely overlooked by policymakers trying to upgrade the U.S. secondary school system.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 11, 2013 12:34 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas