Emelin Brito-Brito
Research Mentor(s): Michaela O’Neill
Mentor Department: Educational Studies
Authors:
Session: Session 6 (3:00pm – 3:50pm)
Presentation Type: Oral
Abstract
Millions of students go through the American education system each year where little attention is given to their voices and experiences. In the historically marginalized community of Detroit, students have voiced their interests, opinions, and aspirations through publications in a city-wide, student newspaper: the Detroit Dialogue. This study analyzes over 185 articles written by high school students in Detroit to gather insight on how students perceive what is happening in their school environment and in the outside world. The categories developed provide insights into the topics students write about overtime. These categories include Mental Health, Politics, Civil Rights, Liberties, & Justice, Crime & Violence, Identity, Discrimination, Advice, School Feedback, Reflections, After High School, Media & Pop Culture, and Regional Interests. Subtags were developed for the School Feedbag tag which broke down the themes that appeared when journalists provided school feedback. The articles used date back to 2014 and are being added onto the collection as new publications are made. This ongoing project highlights the various perspectives and events that students have analyzed and written about, such as the importance of extracurricular activities, racial discrimination, politics, and social media. Analyzing the ways in which Detroit high school journalists over the last ten years have written about the issues they face helps provide a better understanding of their perspective. By learning more about the hopes, demands, and proposed solutions of these high school students, we are able to develop new approaches in teaching, school regulations, and law making.
