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oh those wacky college kids

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by txsportsscribe, Mar 4, 2009.

  1. In all seriousness, I heard some of this same stuff from my sports editor, who I love, when I was contemplating leaving the business and going back to school. There will always be a place for good writing and reporting! You may regret this! Everyone I know who works in other fields hates their job!

    Ultimately, it wasn't a leap of faith I was willing to attach the next 35 years of my life to. I went through an unbelievable amount of anguish for two years coming to terms with that, because I was once just as full of piss and vinegar and stubbornness as the young posters on here now.
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    A few of them should. There's no point in pumping out thousands of graduates every year.
     
  3. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Many newspapers might not have a future, but that does not automatically mean writing and journalism do not.

    Perhaps out of today's journalism students will come the visionaries that will create a viable and thriving model and future for journalism, because it's certainly not going to come from the boardrooms of companies whose previously stated purpose was to spend big bucks to build up what they thought would be a locally monopsonistic enterprise. I know things suck now, but I would never advise someone against pursuing what they love.
     
  4. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    If pursuing it meant taking out tens of thousands in student loans for a degree that very likely will not get a you a job out of college, I'd most certainly advise them of that.
     
  5. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    If you're doing for the expressed purpose of working at a newspaper, yeah, it seems foolhardy. But if you're getting the skills that can get you to work at any number of places, it's not. Also, you can't always base your major on what is going on right at this moment, because who knows what'll happen in five, 10, 20 years?

    I take the interest as an encouraging sign that A) j-schools seem to be adaptable to the times and B) journalism will survive, even if some the current delivery methods don't.
     
  6. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I wouldn't advise them of anything. I'd lay out the facts, and as long as that person goes in with eyes wide open, I'd say "God bless."
     
  7. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    Kids are optimistic and therefore don't always listen to cynical advice. In some ways, it's good that they're going to give it a go no matter how bleak the outlook is. But most of their outcomes will be sad and embittering. Then, they'll be wizened adults just like the rest of us.

    Sure, you'd like to spare them the failure they are almost sure to encounter. But in order for them to listen to you, first they have to have a reason to believe you, which generally involves them failing.
     
  8. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    Voakes is a good guy, good teacher.

    But his quote in this story . . . the wife describes it this way: "He's in the Ivory Tower, saying "Look at all the pretty colors!' when he sees the blood in the streets."

    It has been so clear for a couple of years now that the J-schools need to do a better job with the whole reality-based aspects. Too many professors and programs sugarcoat not only where journalism is, but where it's going. Some of these students have the idea put in their heads that "Yes, newspapers are dying . . . but YOU have attended (fill-in-the-blank AWESOME J-school)! So YOU will be better prepared than your competition! Because YOU - yes, you - RULE!"

    I have been shocked quite often at the complete lack of awareness many J-school grads - including some from my undergrad alma mater - have regarding journalism as a business. The tools to educate themselves are so easy to find. And it is also up to the schools to give an honest appraisal. Since, after all, they're supposed to be preparing youngsters for the real world.
     
  9. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    All you need to know about this business is the fact MLB.com is using slave labor. Pardon the reference but that's all you can call it. It's not newspaper work, it's the rich future of the Internet and they can't even pay these kids minimum wage this summer. It's fucking slave labor and disgraceful and the government should step in. No kid should go into journalism school.
     
  10. KevinmH9

    KevinmH9 Active Member

    I can't begin to say how happy I am when I decided to stick with getting a degree in English rather than transferring to my state school and getting a degree in journalism. Best decision I ever made.
     
  11. BRoth

    BRoth Member

    First thing my first journalism prof said to me was "This is either the best time to get into journalism or the absolute worst time. We don't know." That was at the beginning of the move online before papers really started making up their minds about what they wanted to do with an online presence (obviously, many still haven't).

    That made me a little pessimistic.

    Later that semester, he walked us through what it would be like living as a journalist, on a salary in the low $20,000s. That made it worse.

    At least he was honest about everything.
     
  12. So you finished at a private or out-of-state school to get an English degree? Rack the fuck out of you, I guess. You really showed the rest of us. ::) So, what's your balance after exiting such shithole? Let me guess, not much?
     
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