Should j-schools be partnering more closely with other academic departments in order to impart to students a more current and relevant skill set and mindset?
I do agree with Gahran’s point about collaborating with other departments. If journalism schools are more closely paired with other academic groups, not only would journalism students have an easier time getting into the job market, but other departments could learn about the important standards of journalism and apply them to their businesses, schools, etc.
In my opinion, it makes the most sense for journalists to collaborate with the business department. At this point in time, business journalism is the fastest growing area of journalism, so it would benefit students early on to have a backround in how to copy edit business work. In addition, a lot of business people have trouble with applying writing skills in their work when necessary, so they too could learn better editing and writing skills from the get-go. At our university, I think that business students also have an advantage in the job search, through opportunities like the business career fair and Symplicity, a Web site that allows business students to easily apply for jobs online. Perhaps if our departments merged, journalism students too could find jobs more easily.
Although at this point in time I think joining with the business school is most important, I think that if all of the departments could collaborate with journalism, they would all benefit. Writing and editing is such an important skill to have, no matter what career path one chooses to pursue.
After reading the comments on Grahan’s article, it does seem like there is an issue of time at hand. However, perhaps the merge could be started at a slow pace, making it a requirement for all students to take an editing class, and all journalism students to take a business writing class. The merge may take time, but I think it could do wonders for the students at any University.
1 comments:
I suppose that J-students could be collaborating more with the business department, but I feel that in editing and writing memos/proposals/financial statements/shareholder reports/etc...there also needs to be that business background. But then again, it could just be "silo-mentality" and perhaps it just isn't done because there is no standard for it. The professors from the article might be right...it might just take a new, fresh, young team of professors to make the change and effort to collaborate the two. But as for the business and technical writing classes, I am pretty sure that if J-students wanted to take it, it is open to students outside of the College of Business. You should check it out!
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