Colorado regents vote to close J-school

[Mark2010]

Also, the philosophy department is no longer adaquately preparing kids for the workforce. SHUT IT DOWN!

Ain't that the truth!!! I'm sure the move has far more to do with dollars on the university's part than any theorectical belief. Liberal arts universities have long prided themselves on "teaching people to think" rather than handing down any specific skill set. Hey, you want a marketable skill, go to a trade school.

 

[Double Down]

Who gets a history degree or an English degree or even a political science degree and thinks it will translate into a job?

A journalism education teaches critical thought, logic, and technical writing. Every school worth a damn makes you take a foreign langauge to get into the program. The fact that the media industry is changing and newspaper jobs are hard to get is a moronic reason to drop journalism as a major.

What job does American Studies get me upon graduation? Theology?

It's a liberal arts degree, folks. You make of it what you will. And if the media world screws you over, you can still write well and summarize a large amount of information quickly and accurately. There are much worse fates.

/coughcoughcreativewritingcough

 

[YGBFKM]

I'm not sure how much critical thought is taught in American universities, but that's a rant for another day.

I think people on this board, who are primarily in newspapers — and may feel stuck there — are forgetting that a giant journalism world is open to graduates these days. The trick is finding the right niche, but there's 8,000 niches out there for which a journalism degree can help one get started.

 

[BYH]

I'm sure I'll catch flack for this but, with the business being what it is, they should offer a two-year program for journalism at the community college level, like they do with nursing programs. It seems silly to accumulate four years of debt to earn $25,000 if you're lucky, while nurses come out of a two-year program and make twice that if not more.

You won't catch flack from me.

Good on CU.

Also, the philosophy department is no longer adaquately preparing kids for the workforce. SHUT IT DOWN!

Big difference though: Nobody goes to college expecting to make a living in philosophy or staking their hopes and dreams on getting a job in philosophy.

Prove it!

That is ****ing funny.

 

[imjustagirl]

A journalism education teaches critical thought, logic, and technical writing. Every school worth a damn makes you take a foreign langauge to get into the program.

I learned none of those things, and didn't take a language after sophomore year of high school.

 

[lcjjdnh]

The fact that the media industry is changing and newspaper jobs are hard to get is a moronic reason <b>to drop journalism as a major.</b>

To be fair, although they're closing the school, they're still maintaining a "journalism-plus" option, according to the story. You can major/minor in journalism as long as you major in something else.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Who gets a history degree or an English degree or even a political science degree and thinks it will translate into a job?

A journalism education teaches critical thought, logic, and technical writing. Every school worth a damn makes you take a foreign langauge to get into the program. The fact that the media industry is changing and newspaper jobs are hard to get is a moronic reason to drop journalism as a major.

What job does American Studies get me upon graduation? Theology?

It's a liberal arts degree, folks. You make of it what you will. And if the media world screws you over, you can still write well and summarize a large amount of information quickly and accurately. There are much worse fates.

/coughcoughcreativewritingcough

Most of the people I graduated with were out of journalism within three years.

 

[RickStain]

Journalism is a field of work, it is not a field of thought or study. The comparisons to philosophy or history or English just don't fly.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Journalism is a field of work, it is not a field of thought or study. The comparisons to philosophy or history or English just don't fly.

This is incorrect.

Granted, study of journalism may not go as deep as study of philosophy or such.

But it is very much a field of study.

 

[Starman]

When I was in J-School, I constantly heard some statistic that the number of Journalism students was going up every year by a pretty decent rate. If this is a way to limit that, I see there could be an upside.

I've heard repeated many many times (although I've never seen an actual source citation) that more people in the United States graduate every single year with journalism degrees than there are print journalism jobs in the entire country.

In other words, the publishers of every single newspaper in the nation could fire their whole staffs tomorrow morning and replace them all with fresh-out-of college graduates.

Again I am not sure if this is actually true, but a hell of a lot of publishers act like it is.


Back to the original topic: Nobody intelligent or responsible would advise any young person to major in journalism these days, or even allow it if they had any way to stop it.

 

[RickStain]

Journalism is a field of work, it is not a field of thought or study. The comparisons to philosophy or history or English just don't fly.

This is incorrect.

Granted, study of journalism may not go as deep as study of philosophy or such.

But it is very much a field of study.

You study techniques to learn how to do the work. You don't study journalism for the sake of a deeper understanding of journalism. You study it to go out and do journalism. As a major, it's closer to vocational tech than it is to philosophy. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating that last point a bit).

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I got very little audio/photo/video training out of my undergrad years as a strictly j-school kid. Granted, that was by choice and the program has served me well in the long run, but I would have been better off getting a double major or minor in journalism.

I also got a degree with virtually no work in video.

Which is unfortunate, because my degree is in Telecommunication and Film.

 

[MartinonMTV2]

When I was in J-School, I constantly heard some statistic that the number of Journalism students was going up every year by a pretty decent rate. If this is a way to limit that, I see there could be an upside.

I've heard repeated many many times (although I've never seen an actual source citation) that more people in the United States graduate every single year with journalism degrees than there are print journalism jobs in the entire country.

In other words, the publishers of every single newspaper in the nation could fire their whole staffs tomorrow morning and replace them all with fresh-out-of college graduates.

Again I am not sure if this is actually true, but a hell of a lot of publishers act like it is.


Back to the original topic: Nobody intelligent or responsible would advise any young person to major in journalism these days, or even allow it if they had any way to stop it.

This is why the responsible move is to close some of these schools.

Also, I doubt too many people are picking journalism because of the alleged wellspring of creative thought it provides. There are some plants inside buildings with more critical thinking ability than some working journalists.

The profession has failed to evolve. It does not require any real demonstration of skills, even as other professions are raising the bar. People are encouraged to work at several places for no pay so they can "look more attractive" to a prospective employer, of which there are fewer.

A good move on the schools' part would be to do something similar to what Colorado is doing. Keep some of the current courses but require people to complete a major or minor in something else. That way, we could keep the non-existent critical thinking development in place, and it could be paired with something more relevant.

 

[Mark2010]

When I was in J-School, I constantly heard some statistic that the number of Journalism students was going up every year by a pretty decent rate. If this is a way to limit that, I see there could be an upside.

I've heard repeated many many times (although I've never seen an actual source citation) that more people in the United States graduate every single year with journalism degrees than there are print journalism jobs in the entire country.

In other words, the publishers of every single newspaper in the nation could fire their whole staffs tomorrow morning and replace them all with fresh-out-of college graduates.

Again I am not sure if this is actually true, but a hell of a lot of publishers act like it is.


Back to the original topic: Nobody intelligent or responsible would advise any young person to major in journalism these days, or even allow it if they had any way to stop it.

That's probably true, but we shouldn't limit "journalism" to newspapers alone. A lot of my former classmates wouldn't anymore work for a newspaper than anything. They wanted cushy, high-paying PR jobs or doing technical writing or copywriting for an ad agency. That sort of stuff.

But, yes, there are many new grads who enter the field, find out what the real world is like, and move onto something else within 2-3 years. (I guess as a 20-year vet I am allowed to say that.) That's fine. Sometimes the best experience is, well, experience.

But I stand by my earlier statement that a university's decision to dismantle a program probably has more to do with its own bottom line than any relevance on the part of the students. Honestly, I've never heard an "advisor" tell a student "You are really wasting your time and talent here. You should go study such and such....."

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Colorado named "Top Party SCHOOL!!!!!"

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/04/17/university-of-colorado-is-playboys-top-party-school/

Coincidence?

Perhaps.

 

[JackS]

Back to the original topic: Nobody intelligent or responsible would advise any young person to major in journalism these days, or even allow it if they had any way to stop it.

If you think someone is a potentially fantastic journalist, it would be unintelligent and irresponsible to advise that person not to pursue the field.

I get your point about not recommending the field on a "general" basis, but I'm sick of the attitude that journalism is nothing but a ticket to stress and famine.

Watch yourself before I pitch a Starman-style fit.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I agree with Starman. If you major in journalism at this point, you're insane. If you want to major in something else and write for the paper on the side, fine...

It's no longer a viable profession, sad as it is to say...

 

[jlee]

Colorado named "Top Party SCHOOL!!!!!"

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/04/17/university-of-colorado-is-playboys-top-party-school/

Coincidence?

Perhaps.

In my best Cochran:

If UCF is a fit, the list is not legit.

 

[JackS]

I agree with Starman. If you major in journalism at this point, you're insane. If you want to major in something else and write for the paper on the side, fine...

It's no longer a viable profession, sad as it is to say...

Are my recent students now working at SI, NBC and the Wall Street Journal insane?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I agree with Starman. If you major in journalism at this point, you're insane. If you want to major in something else and write for the paper on the side, fine...

It's no longer a viable profession, sad as it is to say...

Are my recent students now working at SI, NBC and the Wall Street Journal insane?

No, they are the exceptions.