At least someone still teaches writing: students won't succeed without grammar.Scene One: A Creighton University Sitting on a 108-acre campus just outside Omaha's downtown business district in the Near North Side neighborhood, the University currently enrolls about 6,800 students. Creighton is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. junior was discussing her spring registration plans with me. "I want to take editing next semester se·mes·ter n. One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year. [German, from Latin (cursus) s because I need to improve my grammar." "Who did you have for freshman composition?" "Dr. X." "But he's one of the best on campus." "He's the best for critical thinking, but he doesn't teach grammar." Scene Two: It's "Grammarama" day in Dr. Carol Zuegner's editing class. Students are yelling out answers to questions about syntax, punctuation punctuation [Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are strung together there are other features, such as tone, accent, and , and usage. They're excited. They're learning. Prior to this course, some had never studied grammar. Why We Need Journalism Education: I rest my case. During my first semester of teaching at Creighton, a Jesuit university with above-average students, I was breezing through a unit on grammar in an editing class, too inexperienced in·ex·pe·ri·ence n. 1. Lack of experience. 2. Lack of the knowledge gained from experience. in to realize how baffled some of my students were. Finally Robin raised her hand. "What's a preposition preposition, in English, the part of speech embracing a small number of words used before nouns and pronouns to connect them to the preceding material, e.g., of, in, and about. ?" I hadn't realized that many elementary and secondary schools don't teach grammar. Apparently many college English teachers English Teachers (airing internationally as Taipei Diaries) is a Canadian documentary television series. The series, which airs on Canada's Life Network and internationally, profiles several young Canadians teaching English as a Second Language in Taipei, Taiwan. simply penalize pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. students for poor grammar without believing it is their duty to teach remedial English in addition to literature or composition, I can't say I blame them. However, Reality 101 is that many bright and motivated students will never succeed in journalism unless we teach them the difference between complete sentences and sentence fragments sentence fragment n. A phrase or clause that is punctuated and capitalized as a sentence but does not constitute a complete grammatical sentence. , the correct use of pronouns, and the agreement of subjects and predicates. It's hard work, but someone has to do it. I don't see many other candidates on the horizon. I support liberal education for journalists, but I believe that journalism education is important, too. I've benefited lifelong from a combination of the two. I was a double major in journalism and political science with minors in history and English. I have M.A.'s in political science and journalism, and my doctorate is in political science. At Creighton, we are part of the College of Arts and Sciences, and I wouldn't change that. Our students complete a sixty-seven-hour core that includes classes in philosophy, English, history, theology, the social sciences, foreign language, math, and natural science. Twelve hours of upper-level courses in a field other than their major also are required. Our journalism major is only thirty-six hours, about a fourth of a student's total coursework. That's lower than some national journalism education standards, but I think it is about right. We introduce students to reporting, editing, photography, and graphic design. They can work on our newspaper, yearbook, or online newspaper, do internships, make professional contacts, and build portfolios. They graduate both liberally and professionally educated. Today's students face a brutal job market. Journalism always has been a word-of-mouth hiring field. Even as editorial writers are debating the merits of journalism education, city editors contact us for names of talented recruits. A good word from a respected journalism professor can open career doors just as a good class from that same professor can ensure that students are ready to walk through them. I encourage students to get the best of to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. - Milton. See also: Best both worlds--strong journalism and strong liberal arts liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. . It's a recipe for success, especially in an era when the most rigorous writing instruction available may be in the journalism department. |
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