I want to ask California to make journalism a mandatory class, how do I go about doing that?

Journalism is pretty specialized work in writing and publication, and doesn’t really cover what you’re wanting to instill in students. It also requires an end product to be made, and most students will not have the desire, talent, or competency to be journalists or editors.

Maybe a critical thinking course that ties in with contemporary events would be better suited to your thoughts. But making it mandatory would be trouble, our educational budget has been slashed more than a jack the ripper victim.

I think the basic skills you’re talking about – being able to examine sources critically and develop basic research skills, thus becoming a critical thinker – are already part of the curriculum for both English and History, both of which are usually required (and when history isn’t, it’s in lieu of some other humanities class that teaches the same stuff, like philosophy and women’s studies). So, in an environment when we can’t get the state to pay teachers above the poverty line, or help students out with tuition outside of loans, I don’t really see the legislature passing a law mandating a journalism class for students who don’t want to become journalists. Sorry.

Buying a high profile lobbyist.

Is Fluther your idea of research? I think you dream, wolf.

I thought that was a Civics class? Do they still have those?

@sinscriven I happen to be a recognized journalist in San Diego with honors from the San Diego Press Club, JACC, and Society of Professional Journalists. I’m no longer active in the sense that I write for any particular entity however. I come from a region in San Diego relatively comparative to that of the “projects.” When I took journalism in Highschool, it was all very, very basic stuff, and it gave students a very general idea of what journalism was as a whole. Come on, I’m not saying they should have an extensive class teaching journalism in highschool. Everything in highschool is pretty much bogus anyhow. Biology, Chemistry, Math, English. Those are all very introductory level classes. I don’t see how journalism would hurt should it be a mandatory class in California. Most seniors have like 3 electives by the time they reach their last year. Why not have them learn how to take up the currents. Thats all I’m saying. And no one is really answering the question. I’m not really interested in peoples opinions. I just want to know how I could grab the attention of legislature to bring the idea forward. Thank you.

@dreamwolf So you know that high school introductory classes are bogus, yet you still want to have another one? I don’t understand why you want to expend the energy on something you yourself admit won’t be anything but bogus.

@Aethelflaed The point is to get kids to read, and get a general idea so that may spark interest to them in that field, or just have a general understanding of it all. Just like we do with other bogus classes that all, oh so need.

Why is everyone so against learning the premises of how information is researched and put out for publishing, goddamn, this is why America is jacked up.

@dreamwolf Ok. I don’t have an issue with getting kids to read, I just don’t understand why we need a separate class. It really sounds more like either stuff that’s part of all English classes, or something you could include as a couple lessons in an English class. I’m not trying to say that having a knowledge of these things is good, I’m just not understanding why we should devote such limited resources to such a niche topic when we can’t even teach kids which part of a sentence is the subject and which part is the predicate. In an ideal world, of course they would learn all these things, but that’s not the world we live in. We need to cover the basics before we get to the particulars of your field. It really just seems more like a good college class than a good high school class.

@Aethelflaed Fair enough, I respect your opinion. Our resources are limited in the first place, because people aren’t reading or even talking much about the social atmosphere politically in the U.S. Instead, we keep on investing in the military instead of the educational institution. I just feel education should be the top priority in the U.S. and especially in California, which accounts for 55 electoral votes. The people need to know how to read, because trust me, my generation, born 1987 & beyond. All were going to know is how to live in debt, because we couldn’t get a couple representatives to stick to their guns and hold them accountable for what they promised they would do upon election in their office.

I’m leery whenever someone reads me their credentials and then asks for help with something very basic.

@perspicacious I just want the Fluther community to be involved. Obviously I know I can contact my city officials for the sake of this question.

But why. Haven’t you gotten the underlying hint that we don’t agree with you?

@dreamwolf And I agree with you. I’d much rather divert so much of that military money for education. I just think we have to do the diverting of resources before we add on a mandatory journalism class, and despite the fight over education spanning several decades, we still haven’t accomplished that first goal, so…

@Aethelflaed You’re correct. We have not accomplished that goal. We’d rather go apeshit over no NFL than good education, and thats where we are at. @perspicacious It doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not, that is not the question, I’ll go on with my own convictions and you, your own.