I’d like to add to the conversation from a blog posted yesterday by the Center for Scholastic Journalism calling for the burial of the carcass of scholastic journalism. Yes, you read that correctly. Scholastic journalism is dead, and the system was flawed to begin with.

Even from my inexperienced view, I can see there’s some work to be done catching up with the needs of today’s media.

Media literacy is a must

And I wholeheartedly agree that media literacy should be a required course for all high school (and maybe even younger) students. We make them learn government, economics and health, and I’d love to hear an argument for why learning to decipher media messages is any less important to democracy.

Experience required?

But I take issue with saying part of the problem is with advisers who don’t have journalism experience. After I left the newspaper world in September, I spent last fall in the classroom of one of the best journalism teachers in the state of Texas (and in the country, according to some contests), and she never worked as a professional journalist. And let me tell you, those students could certainly determine story ideas that were relevant and interesting to their audience, and they don’t shy away from meaty subjects. Shout-out to the Liberator staff led by Janet Elbom at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy at LBJ High School in Austin. I’d link to their newspaper website, but they don’t have one, yet.

Rapid change needed

Which brings me to what I think is the biggest problem with journalism education curriculum right now: the need to incorporate more multimedia and technology. Many educators I know are furiously trying to learn as much as they can to pass these skills on to their students. Journalism education organizations are likewise trying to fill the gap to make these classrooms look more like media organizations today. (And hopefully even more advanced.)

A viable model

With the nature of today’s media, I agree publishing breaking news in a paper edition every few weeks is not effective journalism education. Students should learn to manage and update a website with timely news, in addition to creating a print product offering interesting narratives and in-depth analysis printed on a less frequent basis. This is the model used by The Christian Science Monitor, as well as several high school journalism programs across the country that serve as models of where we all ought to be, including HiLite Online, pictured above.

This change needs to happen, and soon. But a bulldozer? I would say a little redecorating would do just fine.