Candace Perkins Bowen directs both the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University and the statewide Ohio Scholastic Media Association.
She teaches media writing plus journalism teaching methods and desktop publishing for Integrated Language Arts majors.
A former high school journalism teacher with a BS in newspaper journalism and an MA in journalism education, Perkins Bowen is a past president and remains on the board of the Journalism Education Association. In addition, she heads the Steering Committee of the Student Press Law Center Advisory Council and is the current head of the Scholastic Journalism Division of AEJMC.
How do you keep your students excited about working in the field of communications in light of shrinking job opportunities?
Are job opportunities really shrinking? Or are they shifting and rearranging? Our democracy still needs an informed citizenry, and thorough, fair, honest and accurate information must be available. Journalists need to be flexible and creative in their approach to providing that. In today’s world, that also means being digital and thinking about audiences and trying new techniques. Doing THAT makes it easy to keep students excited — they can use Flash and Soundslides and all sorts of bells and whistles. The not-so-exciting part is when you must remind them of spelling and grammar and AP style and ethical considerations.
If you could save one journalism and mass communication course from extinction, what would it be and why?
This isn’t the expected answer — it’s not history, ethics, typical undergraduate degree options. What I want to save from extinction is high school journalism. As noted researcher Jack Dvorak found and reported in the early ‘90s, “Journalism Kids Do Better.” He found that again in 2008 — “High School Journalism Matters.” Students who take journalism or work on the high school newspaper, newsmagazine or yearbook have better GPAs, in high school and in college, score higher on most parts of the ACT (not math, but does that surprise anyone?), and do better in college English, too. These are the ones who do need to be tomorrow’s journalists because they are the smart ones, the ones who want to explore and report on the world around them, the ones who can adapt to the changing face of media.
But saving those courses isn’t going to be easy. With high-stakes testing, school officials often think “traditional” courses are what students need, even though those taking Intensive Journalistic Writing do better on the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition test than those taking standard AP courses. With concern about school levies and thus the school’s image, administrators are even more worried about articles that might “make the school look bad,” though preventing free speech certainly doesn’t reflect well on a school. Saddling a new English teacher with the school newspaper is a recipe for disaster, but finding a qualified journalism educator isn’t easy, especially because many states don’t require any specific training or credentials.
Still, with support from colleges and universities who know the value of high school media and with help from newsroom professionals, high school media can be saved. It won’t be easy, but losing potential journalists and savvy media consumers because they aren’t allowed to explore media as part of their secondary school education simply cannot happen.
If you could offer a piece of advice to both your fellow educators and media professionals in the field, what would it be?
Save the high school journalist. Realize his or her voice is what democracy needs, what tomorrow’s news rooms need, and what we can’t afford to lose.