Thursday, March 28, 2013

DC Metropolitian

Over the past couple of nights my dad and I watched a documentary on PBS called 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School. Watching this made me both happy and sad, but most of all reminded me why I wanted to be a journalist.

This was a four hour long, 2-part documentary set in DC Metropolitian, an alternative high school in the Washington D.C. public school system. In the four hours we followed several students, teachers, and administrators, getting a quick glimpse into what their lives are like. 

Many of these students were forced to face challenges that many adults have never been forced to face. Teen motherhood, lost of parents, and lack of economic stability are only a few of the things kids in this school (and  many other schools like it) have to overcome while trying to get an education. 

I enjoy documentaries like this because I enjoy getting to see what other people go through. Our media seems so focused right now on what is going on in other countries, and although I care deeply about people in developing countries, I care even deeper about the people in our own country. If I had it my way nightly new programs would focus less on the Middle East and focus more on Middle America. People need to know what's happening to our fellow country members. We need to take care of our own first. Good documentries like this really break down peoples' lives and shows you what its must be like to be them. It really makes you understand what the uneven distribution of opportunities can do. How even though a kid might do a bad thing, it doesn't mean they are a bad kid and you have to consider the chain of events that might have led them there.  Stories like these remind me why I wanted to be a journalist in the first place.