A few months ago, my Dad and I were sharing a plate of wings and reading Tampa Bay Times, a tabloid newspaper run by the St. Petersburg Times.

This was back when the Rod Blagojevich cluster-you-know-what was first coming out. Neither of us could believe he was crazy enough to appoint Roland Burris to the Senate seat he was accused of trying to sell. We may have made a few jokes about his hair, too.

My brother Sam looked up from the comics to ask, “Who are you talking about?” Turns out that Sam, one of the smartest, best-read people I know, had no idea who Blagojevich was.

I was reminded of my senior year American government class. It was election day and, just for kicks, the teacher offered the entire class an A for the rest of the semester if we could name one of Florida’s two U.S. senators. No one could.

I know my class wasn’t stupid. Many graduated with honors and went off to top-rate colleges. I couldn’t hope to understand some of the things these people were passionate about.

How is it that an entire room of educated 18 year-olds didn’t know something so important? How can my brother, who at the age of 17 is already a published playwright, not have heard of one of the biggest news stories of the year?

Our generation has a serious news deficiency. I don’t know many people our age that read the newspaper on a regular basis; I know I certainly go days at a time without checking in on the world.

I’ve tried to understand why this is. We’re certainly not apathetic-the massive youth contribution to the past election speaks volumes about our energy and compassion. We’re not stupid, either. For some reason, we just don’t seem all that interested in reading the news.

We need to do better. The world’s a mess of problems: nuclear proliferation, hunger, genocide, civil wars. Soon it will be our turn to fix it. To do so, we need to be innovative and disciplined and smart. We also need to be informed.

The best part is, it’s a piece of cake to read the paper every morning. You can get The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and countless other publications for free online. The fact that you’re reading this means you’ve discovered how easy it is to get The Daily Campus Tuesday through Friday.

We have a responsibility to make the world a better place. Step one means understanding the serious challenges-and amazing opportunities-we face.

– Nathaniel French

Opinion Editor