Connecting high school students with the world.

• Author: Rebhun, Elliott
• Position: Brief article - Column

Over and over again during the long campaign that ended with Barack Obama heading to the White House, teachers told me that they had never seen students so engaged in a presidential election. The various "firsts" in the campaign were one reason; the ability of students to connect to what was going on via the Internet (or Jon Stewart) is another.

But there was a third, more important reason. Somehow, through all the hype and noise, the message got through to students that this election really mattered--to America, to the world, and to them, even if they were too young to vote. They understood that whatever they thought of the jobs that President-elect Obama's predecessors did, the United States faces serious challenges, at home and abroad, that will shape their futures,

The New York Times Upfront, published by Scholastic, brought the campaign and the issues to...