As if applying to college isn’t stressful enough as it is, having a niche undergrad major and intended career path makes it tenfold worse. I want to teach journalism at the high school/secondary level. Do you know how many schools offer journalism education programs that include teaching licensure? Like 5. Ok, I’m definitely being overdramatic but from my research it’s an extremely low number compared to the 5000+ higher ed schools in the U.S.
Here’s how it’s been going so far…
School offers journalism program. Great. School offers minor in secondary ed with licensure. Great. Minor is restricted to English, math, social studies, science majors. Yep.
School offers English secondary ed program. (I don’t like the idea of majoring in any form of English—mostly because I hate reading (ironic, I know)—but I’ll do it if I have to.) School doesn’t offer journalism minor. Yep.
School offers a journalism education program designed specifically for future secondary level journalism teachers/advisors. Great. School is not in-state. [or] School is a private institution. I’m not paying/asking my parents to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a career where I’d cap out at 40k-50k/year.
Does the school that does offer your exact program offer merit scholarships or financial aid you would qualify for?
Do you live in a state that allows for teaching certificates? If so, you could be a journalism major and then get your teaching certification later. (This was a popular in the private high schools in our state and included some of the best teachers).
What state do you live in? Maybe folks here can give you some suggestions.
Another thought, you may be limiting your career prospects with focusing on journalism since many high schools don’t offer it. You may want to consider the english major but at a school that allows you take journalism courses as part of their curriculum.
Some states require a master’s degree for teachers in their public schools. So why not get a degree in journalism or English, work as journalist, and then, after a few years in the field, go back and get an master’s in education? You’re too young to limit yourself, and no one will hire someone who hasn’t worked as a journalist to teach journalism.
From what I’ve been able to find so far, the schools that offer my exact program are Ball State, IU Bloomington, and Lamar. I’ve looked into scholarships and I think I may qualify for some of them. Class rank is #1, but my ACT isn’t too impressive—23. GPA: weighted - 4.6207, unweighted 3.7586. I’m Asian/Native American/White, so I may have a slight advantage if I decide to emphasize that.
I live in NC. It’s one of the worst states for public education, which is why teaching somewhere else is seemingly favorable. NC does offer lateral entry licensure with satisfactory completion of the Praxis II test and an approved teacher education program.
My school’s college counselor told me that I could major in communications and still teach English if I wanted to, as long as I had a license. So an English major may not be completely necessary for teaching English. I’ll continue to look around. I’m dead-set on being in the classroom working with some form of journalism, though.
(Sorry. I don’t know how to properly format this as a response, but this was a response to momofsenior1.)
NYS requires public school teachers to get a MA within 5 years.
@uprightinvasion, I too would be concerned about your job prospects. There are so few undergrad programs likely because there are so few jobs in this field. How many journalism classes is a typical high school going to offer if they offer such classes in the first place? Yes, you might end up with a section or two in a high school, but a full teaching load? I’m skeptical.
And just because you might technically be allowed to teach English without an English degree, that doesn’t mean that you would necessarily be hired. If you were a principal, wouldn’t you rather hire someone who is an English major to teach English classes in your school over someone who might technically be employable with their communications degree but with little or no English coursework?
I don’t have advice that can help, but let me just say that having a specific combination of majors and only a few schools that offer it will allow you to write a relatively powerful “why us?” essay on your applications. You have done a super job on your research, and it will show!
“@uprightinvasion, I too would be concerned about your job prospects. There are so few undergrad programs likely because there are so few jobs in this field. How many journalism classes is a typical high school going to offer if they offer such classes in the first place? Yes, you might end up with a section or two in a high school, but a full teaching load? I’m skeptical”
Completely agree with this. My Ds attended an excellent large public high school (over 600 kids in each class) with tons of class offerings but I don’t think Journalism was one of them. This school does send kids to HYPS, so it’s not a slacker school. I think your goals may be too narrow. Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, I was about to say - journalism teachers for a high school are not common, and I would imagine that most high schools that even offer a journalism class probably have it taught by another teacher (most likely an English/language arts teacher). At my school, yearbook - the closest thing we had to journalism - was taught by an English teacher. Even at a specialized high school or expensive private high school, most won’t hire a dedicated journalism teacher.
I think you should look for English education programs and then take some classes in journalism, then you can maybe offer it as an elective at your high school.
I’d fact check this. First of all, many states require a specific major in order to teach in that field, so I’d be surprised if many states would allow a communication major to teach English courses. (How are you going to teach English literature if you didn’t study it in college?) Secondly, though, it’s not just about what you can do - it’s also about what you are competitive to do. You’d be competing with other applicants who did major in English.
The only majors I can find related to communication that allow you to teach are speech communication (which qualifies you to be a speech-language pathologist, which you need a master’s degree for) or for majors that are basically English majors (like Hamline University’s communication arts and literature major).
I also don’t quite understand how you want to be a journalism major if you hate reading. You do know that in order to hone your skill, you have to read, right? Journalists do a lot of research.
It definitely doesn’t sound like you’d be happy majoring in English just for the sake of qualifying to teach a subject you don’t like. I think your counselor is right that the broader field of communications is the right place to look, both to get a foundation in journalism and to prepare you for broader teaching opportunities since few educational institutions employ instructors to teach only journalism full time.
Can you see yourself teaching, for example, public speaking in addition to journalism per se? You might find the teaching opportunities you are looking for at the community college level, where students typically have distribution requirements in the communications department and where journalism classes are often offered as well. At my nephew’s cc there are a number of tenure-track faculty positions in the communications department, and they are generally advertising for instructors since there is consistent demand for the entry-level COMS classes as well as a steady supply of students who decide to become COMS majors and take additional classes in communication theory, intercultural communication, etc. All of these areas are integral to journalism but also more broadly applicable. And you wouldn’t even need a secondary credential to teach at the CC level - you would need a Masters degree but it wouldn’t need to be a credential program.
The problem here, it seems, is that you are looking to combine a secondary teaching credential with a specialty that is not one of the secondary credentialing options. Teachers who teach journalism in high schools are usually English teachers who also teach English classes. I really do think it’s worth taking a closer look at the community college level, where you could specialize in communications/journalism and work with students who are, in many cases, still remediating high-school-level skills but who have more freedom to pursue studies in your areas of interest. Quite a few schools of education offer certificate programs in post-secondary literacy instruction, which would definitely enhance your qualifications to teach at the CC level, but which would focus on foundational literacy skills rather than on the full range of literary analysis, etc. that a full-blown English degree would demand.
If your Native American background is a potential area of focus for you, you might want to look at U of Minnesota Morris. It’s a public LAC that is very affordable even for out of state students, and if you are Native American, you would not be charged tuition - the college is on the site of a former Native residental school and does not charge tuition to Native students as part of its charter. Morris offers both Communications and Education programs as well as a robust Native American Studies program if that’s of interest. https://policy.umn.edu/morris/amindianwaiver https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/04/17/for-native-students-in-morris-finding-ways-to-excel-in-a-place-of-trauma
The comparable school in your own state would be UNC Asheville. UNCA also offers a Mass Communications program (which includes journalism) and education programs.
If you really want the narrower focus in journalism, then a co-op program where you would graduate with some real-world experience under your belt might be your best bet. Check out U of Cincinnati and Drexel - you may be eligible for some merit aid at these schools. The practical experience you could acquire while still a student could help to fast-track you into an teaching role in a way that an academic degree without work experience might not.
My HS journalism teacher was great. But most of his teaching load was English or Social Studies classes. Your dream job doesn’t exist (which explains why your “dream major” is hard to find).
Journalism teacher at Ds HS had BA in journalism and M.Ed in instructional technology. But also real world experience at a newspaper. (Now instructor at college level). Our school had elective journalism magnet so that there were two teachers that taught print and broadcast. But not every school has that. Some schools will have an English teacher teach since there may only be one section/class worth of kids.
here are my thoughts (as my own daughter was thinking of art education:) there are VERY FEW journalism education jobs. If you want to teach, get a teaching degree in a few subjects that are similar to journalism including English and maybe speech. That will let you look at many more job opportunities within a school.
Print journalism is dying. I look at the largest newspaper in our state. It’s a shell of what it was years ago. Every year more and more reporters are let go; just this summer they let go 30 reporters. High Schools will probably continue to have a class or two in journalism and yearbook; but beyond that high schools need writing & reading teachers more. dont pigeon-hole yourself to such an incredibly narrow field.
(so with art education: at our local elementary school there are 20 elementary teachers, 1 art teacher. Local Middle school, there are probably 40 teachers, and 1 art teacher. I just couldn’t encourage my kiddo to go that route. She is getting a minor in art, but not going to teach it) Just my thoughts . . .
Part of the reason there are so few journalism majors is that there are so very few schools that offer it. And those who do tend to offer one or two sections; not nearly enough to justify a full time position.
Those classes are taught by certified English teachers. And they’re not given to the newbies. They go to teachers with a proven track record. Those courses are taken by the top kids who WANT to learn the material; you tend to have to earn both the responsibility and the privilege of teaching them.
Finding Secondary English teaching jobs is tough in most parts of the country. Anyone who ever pictured himself writing the Great American Novel soon realizes he’ll need food on his table and turns to teaching. Please do yourself a favor, and get a degree that will enable you to find a job. In secondary Language Arts that means the ability to teach Freshman English. Make sure you’re well versed on grammar, that you can teach basic composition, and that your college has an eye on teaching the Common Core requirements. In NY, also consider a SUNY school that will give you familiarity with the English Regents.