Journalism is not a Profession

Then why am I spending over $10 000 a year on a university education majoring in journalism?

In the nature of integrity, it’s understandable that my professor would be straight forward with us, and no one is responsible for taking this course except me. But there must be a certain irony in learning on the first day of class that anyone who starts a blog, or has a video camera on their phone, is a journalist.

Interestingly enough, Sam Smith argues that professionalizing journalism would be the death of it. “Journalism has always been a craft - in rare moments- an art - but never a profession. It depends too much on the perception, skill, empathy and honesty of the practitioner rather than on the acquisition of technical knowledge and skills”. I rather like this perspective, because it disregards the conservative status quo and hands power right into the individual’s hand, or rather, his pen.

Nonetheless, it still makes me question my commitment to an education system that seems to contradict itself. Then again, I cannot recall a time when I was impressed by our education system, or at very least even satisfied by it. What is the value in pouring such a significant sum of money into a program that is destined to be obsolete, especially while in the early phases of potentially the world’s worst economic depression?

It’s time to step back and reevaluate my career choices. It’s time for some serious soul searching.