Dear Kadoka Area,
Today we live in a world where we are flooded with information. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others constantly ‘feed’ the information we, as individuals feel is vital for us to share. The flow of information lets us research a topic anywhere, anytime. However, this was not always the case; on April 18th, 1930, it wasn’t the example at all. On that April day, the British Broadcasting Company reported to its listeners that there was no news for the day and played music for the rest of the 15-minute segment. Has the standard of communication changed? Why would such a moment exist? How could it even be possible? At Kadoka Area, as our students write and research topics for their schoolwork, I hope our students graduate knowing the answer to these questions.
In 1930, all news had to be fact-checked and come from a reputable source. Pre-World War Two, there were fewer ways for reporters to verify the facts that came in. Facts could not be opinions; facts had to be provable and verified. Recently, star college football coach Deion Sanders had a social media star, Brittany Renner, speak to his football team about working on social media in the modern world. The more you engage in the contemporary media, the more you must be careful about the content you receive and put out for the world to see. Coach Sanders warned his players as Renner spoke, “This is how the game is played now, and I hope you all make it to the NFL, but even if you are in business and you don’t make it… this is the (world) game we play in.” Coach Sanders’s modern take on an old adage brought me to the wise work of a cherished relative, my great-grandaunt, Iris West- man, who passed away in 2021 as the second oldest American and was the oldest person to live within the Dakotas since the territory started keeping records. A librarian and English teacher her- self glowed with pride, telling a story of the students she influenced to go on to success in the written world of the 1940s and 1950s, emphasizing that facts were paramount, and it served those students well.
As we reflect on Deion Sanders, Iris Westman, and the BBC: we rejoice in the standard we put forward as our libraries and English department do a fantastic job preparing our students for their written state tests each year. Facts are available and taught to be valued; from this practice, we build the ethics of our student body. Books, internet sources, and print publications are vetted for quality to prepare our students for their journey into the South Dakota University System and their dual credit offerings.
In 1930, could the BBC have put together a newsreel if they wanted to? They could have, but would it have been to the standard that society expected of ‘news’ of the time? No, therefore, the audience listens to fine musical pieces instead. It is better to tell the truth and be sure of it than not be sure of your footing factually in that age. The standard of trust in the news media in the ‘golden age of radio’ is a foundation of evergreen learning, withstanding time, and we hope to enforce it in our students. Thank you all in our school who make that possible.
Sincerely,
Robert Lukens
MS/HS Principal