I started college as a mathematics major because I figured that if I could wrap my head around abstract math, I could do just about anything. When the reality that I can’t fit high level mathematics into my head began to stamp me into pieces I decided to make a move to something that I always enjoyed. Writing was that passion-without-money thing, whereas math was more of the misery-money. Anyway, since making the change to journalism, I keep asking myself, what good, really, is a degree in journalism?
Unlike math or psychology or massage therapy, there’s not a whole lot to learn. I mean, you learn the style and the basic news values (which aren’t exactly rocket science), but after that it mostly boils down to practice. The difference between an 8th year journalism student and a second year is the level of practice, not necessarily the level of knowledge. I guess one might learn how to extract information from sources or construct a clever sentence, but much of that just comes from doing. And what I have to wonder is, why do I need college just to tell me to practice something? It seems to me kind of like going to college to learn to play Frisbee. You’ll learn a little bit, but the main thing is practice.
Though it’s becoming more common now, it wasn’t long ago that most journalists didn’t have journalism degrees. I just had lunch the other day with a woman who has been an editor at Cincinnati Magazine for more than 20 years. She was a theater major in college. It seems to me that no matter what you do or study, if you have the motivation you can turn anything into a good background for journalism. And I wonder if “journalism” degrees might take away from the diversity of the field. Instead of having lots of theater majors, scientists, gourmands, etc., the field will be inundated with writers who just have a fuzzy recollection of the dateline city names.
This is all not to say that the networking and guidance you get in college are not useful. Without them it would be much more difficult to break into internship and job opportunities. But at the same time, I wonder if it’s worth it to pay more than $3,000 a quarter to have somebody tell me, “Write more stories!”
And it certainly doesn’t help that I can make more per year in my job as a waiter than most entry-level journalism jobs offer. Careers in journalism are definitely not set on a pay scale for university graduates.
1 comment:
I hear your frustration, but you should know that you are a wonderful complement to advanced reporting and have the makings of a terrific writer.
Writing more stories is never enough. It's finding the stories that need to be told and telling them well that makes all the difference.
Sure, there's plenty of emphasis on volume in newspapers, on Web sites and in TV newsrooms, but what does it matter if you don't impact the people who turn to you for news?
Let's talk about you turning an impact piece that draws on your love of the arts and your talent for writing.
Gail
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