We started as a two year college, and with the expansion to include sophomores and now freshmen, the curriculum is to small to satisfy these eager student's needs.
I could have gotten out of here next semester if I wanted because I only have 3 classes left to take to fulfill the major. I didn't want to, so I chose to dual degree (still pending.. ah..). It wasn't merely about the not wanting to miss my senior year and enter the job force a year early (though that was a big part of it..), it was also because there is so much that I want to learn, so much I feel is lacking in the journalism department.
In regards to copy editing, there is one class: News Editing. If copy editors are so important to our field of education, why do we only devote one four-hour lab to the class? There is so much more to learn than can be taught in half a year. I suppose the 451 Research Methods COULD help with copy editing, statistics and other things that can help with fact checking, but that is kind of a stretch.
The rules of grammar are something we feel as if we know, but we do not. We can't. There is just too much to know, too much to learn in just a semester.
As for integrating other programs into the education, I honestly believe it is the only way for a journalist to be prepared. Our program does a better job at attempting to integrate other programs into their curriculum, then they do at their own program.
The six sections of classes that we have to take six hours in allows us to broaden our base of knowledge, but it does not allow us to get in depth with our knowledge. A school like the University of Iowa REQUIRES that a student have a double major, in journalism AND something else.
That something else contributes immensely to the education of the individual and makes them a better job applicant in a very competitive market. I myself am trying to do that, and the process is dreadful, and the essay that seems like it would be easy to write has undergone massive rewrites and it is still not done. They make it hard to double major, dual degree, whatever you want to call it. They don't want to deal with the "burden" they place on the college,
But what is a burden to a well rounded education?
3 comments:
I totally agree with you. I talked about why I think journalism needs to merge with other departments, but I did not consider the lack of journalism classes that are even offered. I would have rather taken fewer classes to get a broad overview, and focused on journalism more intensely and quickly. That way, I would have felt more prepared to leave college with a journalism degree. With this method, some students would may even have a chance to change their major before it's too late.
Funny you should talk about a lack of journalism classes. I am registering for next semester and I only have to take two more required journalism classes and two more electives in the College of Media. Talk about hard. There really aren't many electives to choose from. I know there is the News-Gazette class and the new digital newsroom class, but you have to apply to get into those and only select students can get in. Not to mention both classes are very work intensive, which is not a good combination when you work at the DI too. Don't get me wrong, I have learned so much in the classes offered, but that is why I wish there were more to take and more to choose from.
The College of Media really is growing and it is awesome to be able to say I graduated from such an exclusive program at the U of I, but there are ways the curriculum could and should be made better.
Options, options, options. We need options, options, options. Our school -- and our discipline -- demands options. We have few options. I'm sure you feel the same way, so much of the journ curriculum feels remedial, restrictive. Professors endlessly cite Hemingway as a model of writing, but the thing is, he was extremely terse because he was a literary minimalist, which indeed might have stemmed from his training as a journalist. The thing is, almost every other great writer is known for his writing. In this age of self-branding, is the minimization of one's own voice a good call?
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