You don’t have to look very far to know that the media – and by proxy, the  journalism -  industry isn’t doing very well. And when there’s a problem, there’s always a chorus of industry types throwing ideas at the wall trying to save it. Here’s another – kill the j-school.

Harsh, no? Yeah, it is. But bear with me for a minute.

Let’s assume every journalism school pumps out about 20 graduates per year and that each of them has starry-eyed visions of instantly working for the New York Times or Globe and Mail the next day. Also assuming there’s roughly a couple dozen journalism programs across Canada (multiply that by a factor of ten for the U.S.) and we’ve got thousands of starry-eyed grads hungry for a job. Any job. Your job. My job.

Go to your favourite website or open your local business rag and it’s pretty hard to miss the daily flood of layoff notices. Cut the deadwood and try to keep plugging on with hopes that you figure out how to make this Internet thing make you money.

Realistically, how many of those graduates will soldier on and remain in this business and how many will go on to PR or something else? Given the dire outlook of the industry, I’d say the flak community is doing quite well.

With layoffs abound, hiring freezes in place and enough gloom to dissaude even the hardiest journalism student, what’s the point of pumping kids out of j-school’s (aside from filling the coffers of their alma mater’s…).

So, get rid of them. Kill the programs. End the pressure of hungry, crappy j-school graduates breathing down the necks of seasoned reporters. If this industry stands a chance of surviving, it will do so on the backs of those who get the game and don’t need a few rounds of internships to understand how a newsroom works.

What does j-school really do anyways? Most of your prof’s have been out of the game for so long the delusion they’re attempting to instruct is more harmful than good. What would they know about being successful during a major technological shift in media? Are your online journalism profs good? They’re likely as bad as the one’s I had. The ones that should be teaching are likely gainfully employed – they’re not in the classroom but rather they’re the one’s that are keeping paper’s alive.

If the next generation of journalists are to emerge out of this wreckage, they’ll do so on their own merit. I’m a firm believer that if you want it badly enough, you’d find a way to achieve those goals. You shouldn’t have to blow several thousands of dollars trying to get your foot in the door of a dying industry while fighting with thousands of other ambitious kids at the same time. Put that money to better uses. Blog, pitch, freelance, get your clippings, travel etc.  Get your name out there and fight to get yourself into a newsroom.

In other words, be a journalist.