Columbia University announced this week, The Philadelphia Inquirer won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for its "Assault on Learning" series that chronicled under-reported violence in the city's public schools.
According to Kristen Graham, a reporter with The Inquirer, she and her four colleagues decided to chase the story after an incident occured at a Philadelphia high school.
Reports say a group of Asian immigrant students were severely beaten and the incident was racially motivated.
The reporters decided that they were going to devote resources into looking into a culture of violence that was spreading in the Philadelphia School District.
Graham said students as young as elementary school, even kindergartners, were both victims of violence and committing violent acts.
"We really saw a lot of violence at the high school level. In one particularly disturbing case, there was a group of students who went basically from room to rooms looking for their victim. And this happened in plain sight. Teachers, principals all allowed it to happen. We also found widespread under-reporting throughout the system," she said.
This all changed after The Inquirer ran the series.
"A few months after the series came out, there was a new administration in Philadelphia. And so the new school reform commission -- they're the governing body of the School District of Philadelphia -- came in and put in some reforms," said Graham.
According to reports, changes didn't happen immediately, but they happened incrementally.
"And we hear anecdotally that things are improving," said Graham.
Quotes
"Well, in some cases, students as young as elementary school, even kindergartners, were both victims of violence and committing violent acts," Kristen Graham, reporter.
"Teachers, principals all allowed it to happen. We also found widespread under-reporting throughout the system," Kristen Graham, reporter.
Warm Up Questions
1. What does a reporter do for a living?
2. What does the term "public service" mean?
3. What is a Pulitzer Prize?
Discussion Questions
1. What does it mean when something is "under-reported?"
2. Do you think The Philadelphia Inquirer and its reporters deserved the Pulitzer Prize for public service? Why or why not?
3. According to the story, school officials were not reporting these violent incidents. In your opinion, why weren't these incidents being reported? Discuss.
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