It may have been inevitable. Student editors had created a publication that wandered outside the expectations of a traditional high school newspaper, and some Ramsey students didn’t like it. In the April 27 issue, they made their objections known.

A petition had been signed by about 150 students, declaring that Blueprint was “not worthy of the time and energy spent by students reading it” and calling for a “big change” in the format and content of the paper. The paper published the petition on its front page under the headline, “Not worth reading?”

The signed document offered no hint as to what kind of change was wanted, perhaps not surprisingly. In opinion polls today, up to 80 percent of Americans say the nation is heading in the wrong direction. But many want America to change in fundamentally different ways and object to the status quo for opposing reasons.

In 1970 Ramsey High school was also divided. There were the athletes, a prominent clique in most high schools. There were the counter-cultural types, who joined antiwar protests and slummed around Dinkytown on the weekends. There were the student leaders, who were active in student government and might end up running for office or heading a corporation as adults. There were the kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds, who struggled at Ramsey and seemed isolated in their own group. There were the artists and poets, who won art competitions and worked on the school literary magazine. Then there was everybody else, including those quiet, good students who kept to themselves and rarely attracted attention.

What kind of change did they want?

Blueprint's content may have offended some students. A “Satire on High School Publications” published a month earlier had lampooned school spirit and traditional high school norms. Coverage of the student council was often critical and faulted student leaders.