There is a tide…
We baby boomers flooded the journalism schools following Watergate. And now we’re seeing another rising tide of students just as the big programs at the state universities suffer a funding drought. Are we producing too many journalists?
That’s difficult to say. An adequate answer would have to take into account the expectations of students. Today’s j-schools offer many career tracks other than news-editorial. And the news-editorial students may be the minority.
When I think back on my own journalism education at the University of Delaware, I see that it prepared me for far more than simply getting a job on newspaper. The professional skills one learns in the objective practice of gathering, choosing, and presenting information turns out to be quite useful over a wide range of professions.
What’s happening at the j-schools is not unique to the discipline of journalism. Many of the disciplines are hurting in exactly the same way as a huge generation arrives at college this fall at the same time state funds whither away.
UPDATE (12:30 p.m.): Thoughtful comment from: Tim Porter.
