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September 22, 2009 3:01 PM
What Makes J-School Worth It?
Some people love journalism, want to learn it, and think J-school is the best way to do so. This is understandable—noble, even, given the state of the industry. But think about what an aspiring journalist could do with the money they spend on journalism school, a greater and greater proportion of which is going to technical training that can be had (albeit in a less intensive manner) at any adult learning center, community college, or …For Dummies book.
It’s clear from the enrollment numbers that many, many people disagree with me, but from a strictly cold-blooded, financial perspective (and given the times we’re living in, most people can’t afford to adopt anything but such a perspective), I don’t see how going to J-school makes sense.
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Joe on September 23, 2009 6:08 AM:
Simply put -- they're not thinking.
Homo Economicus, as so many books and studies have shown, isn't how we human beings actually make most of our decisions.
We crave structure. We crave an easily-defined path. We're naturally inclined to like the old "cradle to grave" care and feeding of our employment prospects even if it's less efficient than the new economic dynamism, even during relatively boom periods.
People cling to a certain system even when it no longer really functions as advertised.
A prime example: Harvard and Yale utilize this mentality a lot to get people in the door and paying tuition. I could have gone for undergrad, and I could have gone for grad. In both cases I chose other institutions that were, in the comprehensive sense, 'better' for what I needed. (They're not *bad*, of course... simply not the best option.)
But a lot of people will sign on the dotted line to attend without really thinking about it, simply because it's got the 'biggest' name. It gives them an easy path to follow.
Same with a huge number of law-school apps. They have no idea whether or not they actually want to practice law, but they know that law-school is supposed to mean you're "good". And so they go.
Ph.D programs? C'mon. Those apps haven't been related in the slightest to your actual job prospects for years now.
There's really a trend piece worth writing here: Kids who've been in an environment of 'structured progress' for most of their lives, and who've excelled at climbing those rungs, who develop instincts through that process that lead them astray in making major life choices down the line.
(And make no mistake: You've hit the nail on the head, going to Columbia for J-School today is a very poor life choice.)
Good, unconventional life choice: A whip-smart friend of mine who got his GED at 16 to leave high-school and begin working for the post office.
Absolutely zero debt, incredibly easy working hours, tons of job seniority and income (6 years' worth!) with more to come by the time the rest of us fools have just graduated college, job security and benefits to die for, abilities to transfer elsewhere within the government if he wants, and by reading voraciously all this time, he could run circles around the rest of us in policy and historical debates a-la Good Will Hunting.
Will he be doing better than the I-Banking superstar? Hell no.
Will he be doing better than our precocious liberal-arts major friends? Probably, yeah.
Hell, he's probably doing better than the majority of the writers for the Washington Monthly.
Something to think about.