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| A HIGH MISSION | |
 October 14, 1999 
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After participating in the NewsHour's Agenda 2000 forum, students from Mission High School in San Francisco tell Elizabeth Farnsworth what they think are the important issues for campaign 2000. |
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ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: San Francisco's JOHN WHELAN: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your project for the second grading period. You're creating a Web site. You're imagining you are running for President.
JOHN WHELAN, Mission High Teacher: All these people don't have the blue ones. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: A NewsHour watcher, Whelan asked his class to contribute to the program's online Agenda 2000 by writing letters listing the issues the students wanted presidential candidates to address.
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| Making candidates address young people | |||||||||||
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ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Whelan says candidates have often ignored the concerns of young people, and especially of minority kids in the cities. In turn, many of those young people have ignored politics. JOHN WHELAN: I want them to start thinking in terms of the national issues that maybe are not being focused on by the candidates. I'd like the candidates maybe to focus on more issues that are important to the youth of San Francisco, and the youth in the United States. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: The NewsHour asked a few students to read their letters.
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| Politics with personal experience | |||||||||||
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JOHN WHELAN: They have a very particular view of things. It's very local. It's very much based on their own opinions and their own real experiences. But I think it is also relevant to the national debate about education and city life.
JOHN WHELAN: Ultimately what the students need to get out of American Democracy, the class, is a willingness to participate in the democratic process by voting and being aware of the issues. |
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Mission
High is an urban school where nearly half the students speak English
as a second language. Most are of Latin American origin. Chinese Americans
make up the next largest group, then African Americans and Filipino
Americans; 2 percent are Caucasian. 
ELIZABETH
FARNSWORTH: John Whelan teaches a class on American democracy. 
JOHN
WHELAN: The objective was for the students was to learn about technology
as a way to voice their opinions in a democracy. And I was hoping that
this would be the stepping stone for them to research further issues
for the presidential election race of 2000. 
NIDIA
MEJIA: My school is located in the low resource part of the city. My
question is: Why do other schools get better things than the one I attend
to? What's the difference? Why are things harder for kids who attend
to schools in the ghetto parts than the ones in the nice and clean sides
of the city? Nidia Mejia.
ANA
SEGURA: I think that there should be more control over obtaining a gun.
There should be more gun regulations. As you have seen what happened
in Colorado, many children got injured. And as a result, many died.
This is really a serious issue. Ana Segura. 
TANIESHA
WILLIAMS: I think that it is very wrong that some people don't have
health care. I am a soon-to-be mother, and I would like to know my kids
and grandkids would always be taken care of regardless if I have enough
to pay their medical bills. What if they need major surgery and I can't
afford it? What's going to happen? Taniesha Williams. 
GEMA
CASTILLO: In my opinion, education should be a major subject that candidates
should tackle, the ways in which the schools would get more money to
fix up the campuses, to help schools get good and up-to-date material.
Today's young peoples are tomorrow future, and everyone should help
them become great citizens. To do this, we need to put more money in
schools. Gema Castillo. 
MICHAEL
DUONG: I would like to see how the candidates feel toward foreign affairs.
Is the U.S. police of the world, and why the U.S.? Where is the funding
coming from? And when is it appropriate to take action for another country?
I personally don't think that the U.S. should be too involved in other
countries' business. Michael Duong.