One of the comments on my last post, on journalism education, (and, by the way, thank you all for the feedback) touched on something I’d wanted to include in the original post but couldn’t find a way to fit in.
The comment, from Mark Whitson in Oregon:
Another item to consider is how J-Schools, and professional media can reach down and support high quality journalism programs at the High school and Middle school level. As cuts hit K-12 once again, of course electives like Journalism, Yearbook, Newspaper, Video, Broadcast J, etc. are all in danger.
He’s right. Journalism schools need to get into the high schools, and maybe even the middle schools. It’s in our best interest.
I think that supporting those who are doing the lower-level j-education and finding ways to fill the gaps that exist are good ideas for several reasons. The selfish one is that it would allow us to identify and recruit students who really care about journalism and, possibly, weed out those who wind up in j-classes solely because they’ve heard it’s a way to make a living from writing.
Encouraging, supporting and even helping to expand high school journalism programs and extra-curricular activities could also bring into the arena some kids who haven’t considered the possibility. Maybe the next Adrian Holovaty is walking the halls of an area high school, unaware of how her latent curiosity and those strong computer skills can go together to create something new and valued. At the very least, expanded programs provide the opportunity to spread media literacy skills a little further.
And, if we can better give high school students a strong grasp of the fundamentals of journalism, an understanding of what it is and can be, and knowledge about the realities of journalism as a business, we get better prepped students and a chance to take our teaching up a notch.
It’s a challenge, of course, particularly in larger urban areas, with hundreds of middle and secondary schools. I’m sure I’m not the only j-school instructor who winces at the thought of trying to do one more thing, no matter how vital, off the corner of the desk.
That doesn’t mean we can’t find ways. An idea I’ve been dragging around for a year or so is to set up a social media site (a la Wired Journalists) for Metro Vancouver-area high school journalists, teachers and advisers, and interested j-school instructors. Student journalists could connect with, and learn from. It would make possible online mentoring, problem-solving, tutorials and even informal classes. I suspect we educators might learn a thing or two from them, too.
So far, I haven’t found the time to do the necessary work. But because I believe we should be reaching out, maybe that should be my summer challenge.
Why can’t I live in Vancouver? I guess because I’m a Yank, but anyway – you hit the nail on the head. Those of us laboring in the high schools need more support from both college and pro journalism. We need more programs like the ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute for teachers. We also need quality summer programs for our kids to attend. Here in Houston, the Chronicle has a summer program, but it only supports 30 kids. We have way more than 100 high schools in the metro area. That’s just not enough. If we really want the best to go into journalism, we have to court them like other career fields do. That means taking time and spending money to give them training and opportunities. I hope you get something started up there in BC.
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The win-win part of this suggestion is that there are few ways to better get students excited about the world is the “Journalism Club.”
I speak from my own experience 40 years ago and more recently from volunteering in vocational high school and teaching at Parsons in NY for 7 years.
If the experience is managed correctly, it teaches students how to work in teams, meet deadlines and stand by their commitments. It’s all about new media, listening and talking, so of course they are naturals.
When publishing on the web or even better in Print using print on demand technology, is added to the mix it’s a natural way to engage their passion. They learn about the world and practice the communication skills they are going to need to succeed in whatever they are going to do with the rest of the lives.
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Mark,
Thank you for highlighting my comment. Publications Advising at the MS & HS level can be a lonely business often being the only teacher in this content area at your school.
I really like your idea about setting up a ‘Social Media site’ for High school journalists. I have been thinking about some type of forum for Oregon HS Journalists for some time. But ‘time’ keeps getting in the way. That and graduation- it seems that just about the time I get some students who are motivated, talented, and interested in such a project- they are off to college.
It might be a great place for college J-school students to ‘intern.’ Not quite the NYTimes, but it could be more rewarding.
Cheers,
Mark Whitson
Lebanon High School Publications Adviser
Lebanon, Oregon
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As usual, Mark Whitson asks good questions. As a native of Oregon, I think a valley-wide online HS social media that includes the ability for HS journalists to post their stories would be invaluable. Add in HS students doing a good portion of the tech work (Adrian Holovaty indeed – find someone who moves from the IT side to the journalism side, and that’s just cool), and it’s a real-life project that reaches a broader audience, allows for peer and educator feedback and bridges the gap between HS journalism students.
Better yet, it provides support for HS students who want to hold their schools accountable. My limited experience suggests that this is another immediate benefit of boosting HS-level journalism.
Could there be a grant out there for this?
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In addition to the technical skills, there is a comment I found at newsless.org that I think will help tie the journalism part to the more general education issues.
He quotes an article written in 1947,
“Find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.” That’s a mission statement I can believe in.
If the “common record” is taken to mean everything that happens in the world, I thought it is a great mission for both journalism and education.
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