Are Journalism Classes Worth It?

After running an op-ed by Peter Funt that decries the downfall of high school journalism classes, the Boston Globe turned to Campus Progress for some responses. Several of our web magazine’s current and former writers joined me in commenting.

From Emily Rutherford, a CP.org staff writer: "When I recollect the very low quality of my own high-school paper, I can’t help but think that it wouldn’t be a great tragedy if the school no longer had the funds to print copies."

From Ned Resnikoff, a former CP.org staff writer: "I can’t bring myself to mourn the passing of journalism classes from the high school curriculum."

From Matt Zeitlin, another former CP staff writer: "I don’t think we should care whether or not future freshmen will have trouble ‘succeeding in college journalism courses’—we should worry about whether or not they have the opportunities to do journalism."

And a contrarian take from yours truly: "The skills — interpersonal, management, technological and ethical — taught through journalism (and journalism courses) are useful to innumerable situations in life. Journalism is a uniquely efficient, effective way to teach young people to handle conflicting interests, meet deadlines, manage a staff, and hold their school and local officials’ feet to the fire."

David Spett is the Journalism Network Associate at Campus Progress.

Related Stories

• REPORTS: How A Stafford Increase Would Impact Your State
• REPORT: The Cost of College Will Soar if Interest Rates Allowed to Double
• Campus Progress Names Anne Johnson as New Director
• High School Valedictorian Granted 2-Year Reprieve from Deportation
• For-Profit Students Make Less Money, Institutions Face New Scrutiny