Idea to use newspapers as living textbook
originated in Maine nearly 221 years ago
The value of using the newspaper as an educational tool was voiced more than 220 years ago by a wise newspaper publisher in Portland, Maine who wrote an editorial on the subject, published June 8, 1795. The message is just as relevant today:
“Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers: but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected: we mean that of reading them in schools, and by the children in families.
“Try if for one session — Do you wish your child to improve in reading solely, give him a newspaper — it furnishes a variety, some parts of which must infallibly touch his fancy.
“Do you wish to instruct him in geography, nothing will so indelibly fix the relative situation of different places, as the stories and events published in the papers.
“In time, do you wish to have him acquainted with the manners of the country or city, the mode of doing business, public or private; or do you wish him to have a smattering of every kind of science useful and amusing, give him a newspaper — newspapers are plenty and cheap — the cheapest book that can be bought, and the more you buy the better for your children, because every part furnishes some new and valuable information.”
The New York Times initiated what was likely the first formal classroom program in 1932, known as the New York Times School and College Program.
In 1956, leaders in education and the newspaper industry met in Chicago to discuss the need for a national initiative to encourage the use of newspapers in schools. A result of this meeting was the commission of the study “Newspapers in the Classroom of a Free Society” by the International Circulation Managers Association.
The first national Newspaper in Education Week was celebrated in 1983, co-sponsored by the American Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation and the International Reading Association. Lesson plans were distributed to teachers through local newspapers and reading councils. The National Council for the Social Studies joined the project in 1988 and curriculum was created to represent all three partners.
Through the years, many other groups have endorsed NIE Week including the national associations of elementary, middle and secondary school principals and administrators and the National PTA. Some newspapers have enlarged the celebration to NIE Month, maneuvering around spring breaks and standardized testing, common during March.
Editor’s Note: This information was compiled by Dawn Kitchell of the Missouri Press Association.
