To degree or not to degree...

I think a degree should be required for a leadership position. Getting through 4+ years of college (plus jumping through hoops for an advanced degree) shows the ability to set goals, work toward those goals, manage time and responsibilities and take direction even before you know anything else about that person. Because four-year degree requirements also include a variety of non-major classes, you know they've been exposed to a bit of business, communications, science, psychology, computer science, etc. as well.

I also agree with Pitor, that you'll need a degree when you have to look outside this business.

 

Or for some of us -- those seven years of experience.

 

A degree would have to make you a better journalist, because you would know more about the world, at minimum.

In this day and age when we are telling factory workers they need to go get a college degree to gain job skills, then I think it's pretty important for a journalist to get a degree.

Do you absolutely need one? No.

There will be jobs where folks are desperate and will hire anyone remotely qualified. And you also might be such a sensational talent that you'll wow everyone, but I wouldn't bank on it.

 

I've got a journalism degree. Can't say it's helped me a whole lot in my profession, but I'm proud to be a college graduate.

Nevertheless, I often think I might have been better off getting a degree in business or political science or history or whatever instead, then still worked and the school paper and applied for journalism internships.

 

To piggyback on buck and spnited, the dumbest people I know have college degrees, and while I'm fairly proud of where I've gotten in this business without one, I would NEVER tell anyone just getting into the business to not get a degree. I broke into the business 13-plus years ago while going to college. But these days, I fear, not having a college degree might prevent you from ever getting your foot in the door.

And whoever says a degree should be required should tell that to the list of editors current and past whose lack of degree didn't keep them from being damn good at their job.

 

That's just plain stupid.

It's especially stupid when you consider that some people don't have college degrees because they spent their late teens and early 20s working full-time, serving in the military, even raising a family in some cases. I'm pretty sure those kinds of things teach you a whole lot more about the world than you'd ever learned holed up on a campus for four years.

 

Here goes Pallister on one of his anti-education rants again.

 

It's not anti-education. It's anti-elitist. When I was 20, the owner of the printing company I worked at made me supervisor of shipping and receiving. Working 12-hour days in charge of a department at that point in my life taught me a hell of a lot more about life than any of the years I spent in college.

If I was anti-education, I would have said I think you can do fine without a degree. I didn't. I pointed out that young people today likely couldn't get into the business without a degree, and thus a degree is important.

Having a degree doesn't inherently make someone more qualified to do any job than someone who doesn't have one. It just means they've taken a different path in life to get where they're at.

 

So if you take a history class or Spanish class or English class you're not going to learn anything? I have caught spelling errors simply because I took Spanish.

And going to college prevents you from serving in the military or working or raising a family? I wasn't aware of that.

Thanks for setting me straight.

 

These threads always include people saying "Some of the dumbest people I know have DEGREES!!!!!" And they always have people saying "Experience is more IMPORTANT!!!!!!!"

Both of these statements are true, as we all can attest. But they are not the only truth here. Some of the smartest people I know have degrees, and not having one certainly doesn't make a person smarter or more hireable. For some, the so-called college experience meant little other than making an ass of oneself for four-plus years. For others, it was a valuable time, in which they met a lot of different types of people from many places, and their eyes were opened as to just how big the world is, and how much there is to learn in many subjects.

Too many on these threads dismiss the possible benefits of college, and of a degree. And as I said before, we need to stop acting like it's a a good or even acceptable idea to not have one these days. We can't lament the state of the business and wax poetic about possible escape routes on multiple threads, then dismiss the idea of a college degree being helpful to an individual journalist.

I know, I know. "That's not the point of the THREAD!!!!!!" But these discussions do not take place in a vacuum. I guess I'm trying to think in terms of today's outside world, not just our own.

Every journalist who is not in position to take a quality buyout or retirement in the next decade should look into earning a degree ASAFP. Because out there, you'll be facing a lot of people with a degree, and your skills with the English language may not be enough to keep you in the running.

Sorry for the rant; I just think everthing is changing so rapidly (and not for the better) that we need to arm ourselves in every possible way for the dreaded "what comes next."

 

Can't argue, overall, with your last post, Piotr. Especially the last line. There was a mention earlier about how not having a degree is detrimental if you want to leave the business. I can attest to that firsthand.

Looks like you did well in Missing The Point 101 in college, Ace. And you're welcome.