Kent Bush: Never let them see you sweat

If you want to find out how much you know about something, have third-graders ask you about it.

I got the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Lewellen's third grade class at Ewalt Elementary School in Augusta, Kan., on Thursday. They are preparing to publish a class newspaper.

It should be a doozy.

I have talked to civic groups, church groups and students about writing in general and newspapers specifically. Usually if you have to speak for 30 minutes, you'd better prepare to fill about 27 minutes with a presentation and then answer a couple of questions at the end.

Not this class.

I finished with my presentation and asked if anyone had any questions - expecting the normal silence that accompanies a group of people where no one wants to be the first to ask a question.

That wasn't the case Thursday.

As soon as I asked, every student grabbed a folder where they had stored their prepared questions for me.

I tried to answer each one.

When I first started the discussion, I asked the students what they saw in the newspaper.

One student said, "Mistakes." Obviously, his father's business will soon be receiving a proposal for a significant advertising package.

But from there we talked about how to limit mistakes, how to prepare stories and how to decide what makes a good story.

The questions were insightful. One young man asked if I liked every story in the newspaper.

That's a good question. I don't.

Every obituary tells the story of a family's loss. Accidents, fires and crime stories - though necessary and important - aren't the kind of news I like to see.

Many students wondered whether I like my job at the newspaper. I do.

Some wondered how long it takes to build a newspaper. With our experienced staff, it doesn't take as long as it might for some. That opened up a discussion about the cyclical nature of a daily newspaper.

I was really having a good time. These kids were engaged and keeping me on my toes.

When did the first newspaper get printed? I knew when the first Gazette was printed and I knew Johannes Gütenberg invented the modern printing press, leading to newspapers as we know them today.

But I had to look up the history. It turns out that Julius Caesar had a daily newspaper created and posted in Rome as early as 59 B.C. The Chinese had presses with some capability around 748 A.D. Gütenberg came along in the 1400s to invent the modern press.

But the best question of the day had no rivals. "Do you sweat?"

When my head stopped spinning I told him that usually we just work on computers at our desk, but when we used to work around the presses, there was a lot of hard work going on.

It was a lot of fun talking about newspapers and answering the students' questions.

I can't wait to see their newspaper.

I know it won't be boring.

Kent Bush is publisher of the Augusta Gazette in Augusta, Kan. Contact him at publisher@augustagazette.com.