Gladwell: "Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs..."

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1931100,00.html?xid=rss-arts

by robg • 17 years ago

38 26 17 years ago

Every journalist I have put this question to agrees. I, however, took the idea a step further than not going to journalism school and decided against being a journalist altogether.

I submit that is the best solution.

unalone2• 17 years ago

That works unless you really want to be a journalist.

scott_s3• 17 years ago

"...and go to some other kind of grad school."

The second half of that sentence is important. He's saying learn a subject that most people don't know, and write about that. That's a different message than the implications from just saying "Don't go to journalism programs."

robg3• 17 years ago

I agree, just that darn character limit. You got a way to combine the two thoughts into 80 characters or less?

The difference between a lede (from a quote) and a shortened tweet, I guess.

scott_s3• 17 years ago

In this case, I think it changed the tenor the the statement completely. How about:

Gladwell to aspiring journalists: Become an expert first, then write

brandnewlow6• 17 years ago

I went to J-School for a graduate degree. I went because I had no contacts in the industry and no experience either and because I wanted to meet people handling the technology side of things. I got my money's worth and came out with a host of interesting people I could reach out to with questions or for advice.

For many who want go in thinking it will help their prospects as reporters, however, they are disappointed. Several friends went right back into their old newspaper jobs with just a $2-3k raise and a new title. Others spent 6 months to a year writing for free or stringing until they could land a full-time job. Many went into marketing and PR where there are real jobs that pay decently.

It's getting harder and harder to find work as a reporter. meanwhile these schools keep churning out newly minted grads who think having a bunch of clips will be enough. It's worrisome.

alexandros• 17 years ago

This came up today on a journalism blog I follow. http://fleetstreetblues.blogspot.com/2009/10/triumph-of-hope...

brandnewlow6• 17 years ago

Those guys should interview the iCanHazCheeseburgers CEO. He's got to be one of the best examples of a journalist who created his own success in a new direction.

req2• 17 years ago

Compare to engineers becoming marketers: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=890110

skmurphy• 17 years ago

By far the most interesting two paragraphs in the article for me were these:

"There's precious little experimentation in education. Instead there seems to be a desire for greater regimentation, which I think is nonsense. I think we need to try 100 different things. If I were Arne Duncan, I'd think of myself as a venture capitalist, fund as many wacky and inventive ideas as I could, and closely monitor them to see how they worked.

I've always been fascinated by the idea that in inner-city schools, the thing they do best is sports. They do really, really well in sports. It's not correct to say these schools are dysfunctional; they're highly functional in certain areas. So I've always wondered about using the principles of sports in the classroom. Go same sex; do everything in teams; have teams compete with each other. I'd like to try that. I don't know whether it will work, but it's certainly worth a shot, and we could learn something really useful."

brandnewlow6• 17 years ago

Having spent three summers as a counselor at a military sports camp, I would imagine this approach would work really, really well.

If you can put them in a structure with incentives, accountability, clear lines of authority, and very tangible goals, most young men will flourish.

abefortas• 17 years ago

The teams thing might be an interesting idea.

But doesn't "structure with incentives, accountability, clear lines of authority, and very tangible goals" pretty much describe a typical classroom, and doesn't a typical classroom suck?

kyro• 17 years ago

I went to an all boy's high school, and it didn't make much difference academically, to be honest. If anything, the lack of females made us act even more childish in class, and thus focus less, as we had no one to really impress. Kids often pissed in the corners of classrooms and drew penises anywhere on the wall where you had more than a square inch of space.

access_denied• 17 years ago

That's where he above mentioned "clear line of authority" comes in, I guess :-)

mynameishere• 17 years ago

using the principles of sports in the classroom

Right. Having kids who are inherently qualified for such-and-such activities.

Gladwell: "Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs..."

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