All is not well among Florida student writers

Humans have an often-useful ability to quickly move on from disaster and pain and disappointment. We are a hopeful species.

But there are some times when our short attention span and indifference to history can keep us from engaging with the effects of those past disasters, pains, and disappointment. We don't want to wallow in that, of course.

This past week I was reminded of a somewhat unfocused theory that the pandemic has had a wide range of negative effects on current high school and college students. Those two years or so of fear and confusion and isolation -- and that includes the entire country -- hit me forcibly as I was reading 102 feature stories from Florida students for a contest.

In short, they were depressingly bad.

They were fine in terms of spelling and grammar. In fact, I could sense plenty of writing skills and a seriousness of purpose. 

What was missing was curiosity, storytelling, focus, sourcing, and any sense of what readers want and need. Well... that's quite a list. I was asked to choose ONE overall winner and each entry received short comments on weaknesses and strengths or suggestions. Each entry could earn up to 50 points within the state association rubric. 

I chose that winner, but not one entry even came close to qualifying for the highest awards, called the All-Florida. I haven't heard back from the organizers of the contest but assume there will be some online conversation about the scores. 

The hurricane and Milton's effects on power and general destruction from the storm likely will delay any reply. I wrote a long email explaining my choices and included my concern that the pandemic has limited student willingness to get away from their screens to observe and talk directly to sources out in "reality." 

I won't get into all the specifics, but instead of what we might call features, which focus on showing people in action and taking readers beyond the basic 5Ws and H facts, I saw internet research, personal commentaries, basic news stories, and, most glaringly, missed opportunities. I typed something like, "Great idea for a coverage topic, but..." dozens of times.

I ended my email to my Florida coordinator by adding that I suspect the pandemic also has affected the teacher advisers. It is hard for me to believe that fully engaged instructors would be OK with most of these contest entries. In fact, they likely would not do well in any classroom. They just didn't have much content and local readers must have found it very easy to skip over these stories.

The common denominator for great student journalism is the adviser and the standards and coaching that are shared with students who are not used to writing for a public.

My theory is that those teachers are so overwhelmed, so damaged, that they are settling for writing that is spelled right and in recognizable English. 

Until the teachers get it back together, what hope is there for young writers? 

On the other hand, it's Florida. Maybe all the time on the front lines of the culture wars has done what we feared: ruined public education in the state.