Dangers of reviewing high school performances

 Photo by Max Butler, Corona del Sol Sunrise

Student Journalism & Media Literacy encourages student journalists to review high school performances, and I agree, but with some measured trepidation.

Let me begin with my philosophy regarding covering school fine arts performances. Just like we want students reading our publications, the teachers of those fine arts programs want students seeing their students' hard work. Therefore, all fine arts performances should get coverage in some way. I think they should be previewed whenever possible to drive traffic to their event. Often, that doesn't mean a story in the paper, but rather online. However, if a print story is feasible, we do it. We try not to review performances in the paper if the publication date is too long after the performance; we will put those online because with online, timely reviews are always possible.

Now here's my concern: students judging students. That's where things get dicey. Often, when my students write "reviews, of school performances, I end up with summaries rather than commentary—although, quite honestly, those are the tougher band, orchestra and percussion concerts. And I had to admit it, I usually end up running those summaries.

But are they writing summaries because they don't know enough to properly review a performance? Do my students know enough about what they are evaluating to be properly critical? I've debated this with another journalism teacher, who doesn't think students should be put in the position to evaluate the performance of other students. They can write about whether they were entertained, whether there were any technical problems with lighting or sound, but do they know about the technical aspects of the art they reviewing? Did the lead in the play capture the essence of the character and deliver his lines properly? Was the lyrical jazz piece effectively choreographed to the selected music? Did the soloist hit the proper notes? Does the painting accurately reflect the style it was supposed to emulate? Because most of my students don't know the answers to those questions, I will continue to encourage previews and features (balancing daily play rehearsal w/comp gov practice; how a set gets built; balancing choir w/athletics; becoming a photographer; etc.).

I will continue to require we cover fine arts in our newspaper. In fact, I told next year's Life & Times editor that she needs to approach her job like the sports editor: just as it's the sports editor's responsibility to about every game, tournament and meet, and to cover every sport every season, it will be her responsibility to know about every performance and show and to cover every "art" at least once during the year.
Kris Urban
Corona del Sol High School
Tempe, Ariz.