Highschool students say journalism not that 'cool'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM  |  City

SAVVY EDITORS: Twelth graders Meliza (left) and Prita prepare a bulletin board for a competition in which 41 high schools are taking part. The competition is held by cellular operator PT Indosat.

Bulletin boards may have originated in high school journalism clubs, but have now become a must for every high school -- filled with articles and drawings by students.

While some display material worth reading and are an information outlet for clubs, others are not worth looking at.

Bulletin boards are locally known as mading, an abbreviation for majalah dinding (meaning wall magazine).

Tatu Hutami, a second year student at SMU 78 state high school in Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, thinks her school's wall display is boring and its contents unattractive.

"The editorial staff aren't going anywhere with the same old layout. Mostly its just student messages or articles from magazines. They could've done better," the 16-year-old said.

Reza Pahlevy, senior at SMU 82 in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta (and head of the school's journalism club), finds it hard to attract his friends' attention to what is on the mading in one corner of his school.

"We've tried hard to make the layout more attractive and to write a variety of articles -- trying to give useful information to our friends -- but the responses are still so-so," the 17-year-old said.

Both Levy and Tatu are interested in journalism, but agreed that most of their peers did not share this interest.

Together with other club members, Levy makes a bi-weekly mading and a printed school magazine once a semester, but without positive feedback from readers.

"It sometimes annoys us, the club members, because we put effort into writing these articles, but I guess that's just the way it is," he said.

For Levy, joining the club means getting in touch with information from around the world, and different ways of looking at things.

"There are so many things out there and I want to be able to share them with my friends through my articles, but they are usually only interested in the student messages section,"

Lack of interest in mading reflects the general apathy when it comes to journalism clubs.

"High school journalism clubs are not as popular as basketball or cheerleading. This is probably because it's not as 'cool' as other things," said Alanda Kariza, another SMU 82 student.

Alanda, who authored a novel when she was 14 and who is currently a freelance writer for several teen magazines, said the stigma has taken the shine from journalism clubs.

"There's always what's 'cool' and what's 'uncool', and journalism clubs are generally considered to belong in the second group."

"Knowing this, new kids avoid joining the club, which means the club stagnates," the 17-year-old said.

Journalism clubs are one of many extracurricular activities students can choose to attended voluntarily. High school students usually choose one or two such activities and stick to those until their senior year.

Yohanes Arry, a teacher and adviser for the journalism club at St. Theresia high school in Menteng, Central Jakarta, said he had seen declining interest in the club over the last five years.

"Lately, they are more interested in graphic design and visual imagery, rather than written material," he said.

However, he is uncertain whether the stigma of being "uncool" had caused the decline in interest.

Suryo Anindyo, senior at SMU Pangudi Luhur private high school in Brawijaya, South Jakarta, had a different experience after joining the journalism club at his school.

"The journalism club is just like any other club at my school. Every student has their own interests and hobbies, I don't think there should be labeling based on those," said the 17-year-old who works on photography and layout design at the club.

His school's journalism club publishes an annual magazine which is not only distributed at his school but is also sold to students from other schools.

Suryo disagreed with those who label journalism club members as "nerds".

"Those involved in the club are people with good communication skills. How else would they organize interviews or write good articles without these skills?" said the student, who plans to study law at university.

But not all students interested in journalism join their school journalism club, since there are alternative outlets available.

Tatu, who did not realize she had a talent for journalism until a national newspaper accepted one of her articles, decided not to join her school's journalism club and instead wrote articles and sent them to teen magazines.

"I prefer it this way. It enables me to write about things I like and develop my style," she said.

For her, joining journalism club is comparable to "those 'Teen it' writers, who write for the market's demands" -- something she does not want herself to turn into.

Levy, Alanda, Suryo and Tatu said, however, there was little chance they would pursue careers as journalists.

"For me it's a hobby that enables me to develop writing skills which will surely be useful in the future," Suryo said. (dre)

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