Something's missing in J-school.

"What do you mean we could be sued for something in a letter to the editor?"

The student, editor-in-chief at his small college newspaper, may have been the lone voice to ask the question, but he wasn't the only audience member who didn't have a clue about libel.

Or how to conduct a productive editorial board meeting.

Or why "grownups"--translation: recruiters at mainstream newspapers--are bothered about the use of profanity in column writing.

The spring edition of The Masthead included a "To J or not to J" discussion about whether journalism degrees are necessary for landing that first media job.

What that exchange didn't address was the dearth of training, at many of the nation's accredited journalism schools, in opinion writing and managing editorial pages.

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications gives its blessing to one hundred five schools and departments of journalism and mass communication at one hundred three U.S. colleges and universities. ACEJMC does not dictate specific curriculum, courses, or methods of teaching. It does outline what degreed alums should be competent at when they leave a J-school.

"Think critically, creatively, and independently" sounds like a good foundation for an opinion writer, as does "write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences, and purposes they serve." But beyond requiring that graduates be able to critically evaluate their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style, and grammatical correctness, ACEJMC doesn't prescribe that an accredited J-school include instruction on opinion writing.

It has been my privilege for the past two years to interact with student members of College Media Advisors at their annual winter and spring conventions.

Many of the students are learning the ropes at colleges that do not offer journalism degrees. Their labor on the campus paper is one of love; many of them are not paid for their efforts nor do they receive class credit. In some cases, they are without benefit of an advisor who has any practical journalism experience.

The number of journalism schools that don't teach opinion writing should be troubling to every NCEW member hoping to one day leave the craft in the hands of the next generation. Although we may not be able to initiate a movement to include such courses at every accredited university in the country, NCEW members can have an impact on the future of opinion writing by developing relationships with newspaper advisors and students at colleges and universities in their area.

These programs are starved for resources. Outside professionals are welcomed for the practical information they can provide. Student journalism organizations such as CMA and the Associated Press Collegiate are thrilled when they can expand workshop offerings at conventions to include opinion writing.

Preparation need not be time-consuming. Fifteen minutes of prepared comments on how to handle letters to the editor turned into an hour-long discussion at the recent CMA conference in New York. NCEW has hosted two mock editorial boards for CMA students--the one last November in Dallas featured Keven Willey and Jim Freisinger of The Dallas Morning News, John Young of the Waco Herald Tribune and Paul Harral of the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth. The March version in New York included Rich Aregood of The Star-Ledger in Newark; John Taylor of The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware; Joy Haenlein of The Advocate in Stamford, Connecticut; and Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star in Glen Falls, New York.

Preparation was nothing more than reading the day's newspapers--okay, make that years' worth of reading daily newspapers. But when we started doing that voodoo that we do so well--debating, arguing, punctuating opinion by referencing sources and research--the students got a good picture of the kind of work that goes into making a persuasive argument.

Issues that the students at the spring convention wanted to talk about included how to structure editorial board meetings and whether the paper's opinion should be determined by a vote. They wanted to know how to generate letters to the editor. (Putting something worth commenting about on the front page would be a good start.)

We told them to quit writing treatises about Haiti and the Olympics in Greece and write editorials about issues that people on campus care about--smoking in the residence halls, cafeteria food, parking, student activity fees, the death of happy hours at the local bars.

What passes for reasoned debate on the pages of too many college newspapers, unfortunately, is not terribly different from what one hears when tuned to talk radio. They read like hyperbole on steroids. The students want to be better writers, and it's our job to help them if we want to make sure a new generation of opinion writers embraces the principles that NCEW takes to heart--to provide the information and guidance toward sound judgments that are essential to the healthy functioning of a democracy and to draw fair conclusions from the stated facts, basing them upon the weight of evidence and upon the writer's considered concept of the public good.

J.R. Labbe, a senior editorial writer and columnist for the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, is NCEW's Secretary and a former member of the NCEW board. E-mail [e-mail]