Teen-agers must face real world

What would your reaction be if you were told to flip from MTV to CNN?
How would you feel about trading in your Glamour magazine for Newsweek?
This all sounds so sacrificial to most high-schoolers; however, it is time for teen-agers to realize the benefits of keeping updated on current events.
No laughing matter: On the surface, it's funny when someone proudly proclaims he or she does not know which hemisphere Afghanistan is in. But my personal humor in this matter comes from pity. There are so many benefits to updating yourself in the news.
First, things simply make more sense: why our taxes are so high, why we hear so much about Traficant and even why there now are two empty spaces in the New York City skyline where the World Trade Centers used to stand?
Not only can you engage in more conversations and sound as though you actually pay attention in school, but you can become an active American citizen.
You can make yourself part of the solution, urge others to do the same and stray away from being part of the problem.
The reasons: I both realize and understand why teens avoid the news.
The primary claim is that the news is boring.
I think this comes from teens' inability to distinguish between boredom and lack of background knowledge. It seems to me that teens can be interested in almost anything if they are educated about it.
I grew up thinking football was a pointless sport. But then I learned the rules and skills of the game, and I now find it (nearly) fascinating.
Some teens claim the news is too intimidating. People read at varying levels, but I truly believe our overall reading-level potential is almost universal. It is something that just takes practice.
Simply watching the news, both seeing and hearing it at the same time, will make reading the newspaper easier.
Is the news depressing? Yes.
Harsh reality: Our rose-colored glasses are stripped away when we see what is going on in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. It is a slap in the face. We try our entire lives to perfect our surroundings and make ourselves happy.
The news helps, or perhaps I should say forces, us to realize that our world will never be perfect. Running away from these problems, however, will not improve matters.
The hunger to learn is not a gift some people are born with and others lack. It can be developed. Patience and persistence will pay off immeasurablyin your adult years.
XAnnie, a junior at Boardman High School, is a member of the Spanish and Key clubs, the girls golf team and the high-school newspaper staff .