Experience vs. college degree

Really?? What happened.

 

Please forgive me, as I can't quite make sense of your post. But I'm sure you make a great point, and I'd be delighted if you could clarify what it is that you're saying.

My best guess is that you're saying that publishers don't base employees' salaries on their experience and education. But that, obviously, is so delusional that I'm almost sure that's not your point.

In any case, I need to do my cycling before the thunder and lightning reach my house.

 

I'm surprised to see this thread run five pages. Obviously, you don't need a degree to succeed. Some very high-ranking journalists I know worked their way up from the mail room without one. But if you start now without one you are either going to have to start really small or spend some time clerking at a bigger paper, which means playing catch-up salary-wise. And you're going to have to be better than a lot of your peers who have a bachelor's.

I would never look down on someone without a degree because I know, even though I graduated college, the best education was actually doing the work myself. Four years at my college paper taught me a hell of a lot more than all my classroom time put together. There's no reason someone without a degree couldn't spend those same four years at a smaller paper getting the same experience.

 

no. "some of the really good journalists" today don't have degrees hanging on their walls.

 

Write-brained makes great points, and so do all of the other posters. I think we can consider this thread a huge success, even if we haven't seen eye-to-eye, and even if some of my comments have been deemed as self-serving praise.

I think there's a consensus that you don't need a degree to succeed in journalism. That's the bottom line. The debate started due to a few of my comments. But my intent was toward altruism. I want people to get an education because I think it's of great value. What I'm saying is that a degree is a good thing and that it might be slightly misleading to point to those who have achieved success without one. While the success rate of non-grads in our industry might be higher than in others, we have to remember that they are an exception to the rule, not the norm. You don't have to play high school football to reach the NFL, either. But I think most of us would encourage it.

To take issue with someone who believes in the value of a college education seems misguided. But I will admit that I might have come off a little precocious. I apologize for that. I admit that it's one of my flaws. But my intention wasn't to toot my own horn.

 

I know this much, I learned far more on the job than I ever did in school. Book smarts and paper degrees don't equate into street smarts and real experience. Like someone said earlier, I think the value of a degree tells a prospective employer that you are able to set a goal and reach it even if that goal takes 4 years or more to obtain.

 

I agree with everyone who says that what you learn on the job is far more important than what you learn in school.

I'd also hate to be the one to tell someone he doesn't need a degree, and then it turns out that prospective employers might actually believe one is necessary.

Remember ... doesn't matter whether they're right or wrong if they're in charge.

 

great post HM. i appreciated the playing HS fb and the NFL analogy.

and i didn't think you were being TOO pretentious.

 

See, I used the wrong word just to test you. You pass. You'll receive your HM certified degree in the mail for determining that the correct word was pretentious.

Actually, I learned in college to double-check words that you don't use often just to make sure that you're not using the wrong word. I guess we forgot one other area: those who are just too damned lazy to use what they know.

 

HM - i would hang my HM-certified degree on my wall.

my journalism degree on the other hand is sitting in the, the, the, well hell, i have no idea where it is.

 

Actually, I haven't a clue where mine is, either. I am pretty sure they mailed it to me. But it would take me several days to find it.

 

Hmmmm, precocious. "Precocious 1 developed or matured to a point beyond that which is normal for the age (a precocious child) 2 of or showing premature development."

Nah, I did not think you were being precocious, not at all.