NPR asks, "What's The Point Of Journalism School, Anyway?"

Universities have been offering degrees in a wide variety of fields for decades: art, literature, music, philosophy, religion, etc. It's not their place to worry about what a person does with the information acquired. Universities are in the business of teaching, research and exchanging information.

Whenever I talk to middle school and high school students, I try to be very honest about what a career is like. If it turns some off, so be it. Better to be turned off now than to be momentally disillussioned later. If you want to pursue journalism, go for it. It's your life. If you're consumed with making a tub full of money, fine, go do something else. No one begrudges you that, either.

 

I will say this. A journalism degree serves you very well if you are going into a career in PR, advertising, copywriting, editing or journalism.

If you're not, than your degree is no more or less worthless than those who major in sociology, philosophy, English, history, political science, literature, Spanish etc...

 

Agreed, I got in pretty easily. In fact, all they were looking for was a bachelors... didn't matter what it was in.

 

Taking journalism courses in college is a benefit to anyone who wants to enter a media-related field.

But focusing your entire curriculum on journalism courses is foolish. Get a double-major, or do a journalism minor and major in something more productive.

 

I have my Masters in journalism. In the state where I live, I can teach journalism on the college level, but I cannot substitute teach at the grade school level.

 

THIS.

thanks, mizzoo. i'm so sick and tired of folks bashing anyone's interest in journalism. as my middle son preps his applications to ithaca, syracuse/newhouse, maryland's j-school, etc., i've done nothing to dissuade him, reassuring my wife it does not mean your boxed into diving into a life of poverty in the dying newspaper industry. the options for him are no more limited than any of the other liberal arts majors he'd take; he knows his interest in, say, business -- a direction several of his pals are being shoved towards by their money-is-everything parents -- is non-existent. he's aware that his field of interest is not likely to be a lucrative one, but that he can still be successful. and, more importantly, happy.

a journalism degree will ready him just fine if he decides law school is his next move, or teaching, or writing novels... gosh, there are so many bitter naysayers around here only too eager to take a crap on a young person's goals.

last time i checked, j-schools were pretty well populated, yeah, maybe with naive students. and maybe i'm simply a naive middle-aged man. but there's plenty to be said for those of us who prefer to be happy idiots than miserable rat-racers.

are all of them miserable? certainly not. but i would have been. so would my son. when you're 18, you darn well better chase the dream before it's too late.

if the dream of a healthy career somewhere in the journalism field, options such as teaching or law school are as viable as any other of the afforementioned liberal arts majors.

anyone here want to push your kid away from journalism into a course of study they'll hate just because it's more sensible? fine. maybe that's the way to go... just not for this guy and his sons.

my best story/memory on this: i was a pre-law student my first three years of college and worked at a wall street law firm for three summers. during my second semester/junior year i told my parents i was changing course and directing my efforts towards journalism (i had just become sports ed of the school paper), they swallowed their disappointment and concerns. just told me they were fine with that as long as i dedicated myself to the pursuit. and thank them to this day for being supportive.

i know the state of the newspaper industry has it on life support but contend j-schools are not in existence to serve newspaper wannabes. and the education to be gained from them remains far from worthless...

 

you should move to another state....

 

Ah, yes, the ol' SportsJournalists.com false dichotomy makes its weekly appearance.

 

For the record, as I've stated before, I don't think that wanting to practice journalism is a bad idea.

I think that majoring exclusively in journalism is.

The reason is that I don't think that it is a good journalism career move.

 

Not an option. But, I like it where I am and I like my current job.

 

Let's be honest: In this economy, most employers don't really care IF you have a degree, much less what it's in. As long as you can and will do the job for the maximum amount of hours and the minimum amount of money, you're hired.

 

I know a lot of people who think their degree made it harder for them to find a job in this economy. The top jobs aren't out there and there are a lot of cases where a manager (without a degree) doesn't want to hire someone to work under them who has one for a mid-level job.