As I approach a fall teaching load of four classes, each suited to various aspects of journalism and media aesthetics, I reflect on the basic notion of why students need college to prepare for a career in the profession. Journalists are the eyes, ears and voice of the masses, and hence, journalists require a broader scope of understanding, maturity and knowledge. I believe that a higher education, one grounded in diverse disciplines and engaged with the flowing connectivity of thought, houses the essential qualities needed to develop one's acute sense of meaning and rationality in a seemingly meaningless and irrational world.
Journalists-in-training, at many of the best media schools, gain that perspective often not found in immersive work environments. The truly innovative schools don't just do it the old way; rather, these benchmark programs evolve, transcend and even create new rules and methods of reporting, writing, shooting and presenting. Yet, fundamentals are still present, much like every other collegiate discipline that has undergone evolution. Solid concise storytelling, at the core of journalistic ethos, is never tossed away for glossy, new media remedies. It lives to embrace new technologies, those vibrant methodologies for media delivery to emerging audiences. Higher learning, so often the temple to the life of the mind, is the best place for a journalist to begin.
