Is a Communications degree for those Journalism students...

[mitchum]

who can only remember 3 of the 5 Ws?

[CTyankee]

1. Uh, what? I have a degree in Communications and Fine Arts.

Would you like to talk?

[JustAnotherGen]

3. Amen CTyankee

First thing? Let's get all the lawyers . . .

[mitchum]

5. That didn't answer my question...

or did it?
:)
The reason I am asking is that Palin was originally touted as having a bachelor's in Journalism (after 5-6 years of college), but it turns out that her degree is actually in Communications (kind of like McCain being promoted as a fighter pilot when he was actually a bomber pilot)
What does studying Communications entail? All of the scholarship athletes I knew in college were Communications majors. And they could never really give me a comprehensive answer. Kind of ironic, isn't it?

[JustAnotherGen]

7. I just did below

And so did CTyankee . . .

Wow - I make six figures a year . . I guess I did alright for myself. For some broad Comm/Poli Sci Major who scored in the 98th percentile on the LSAT, was recruited by several Ivy League schools - but saw myself in 15 years and didn't like the idea of being an Attorney and all that would entail.

We can't all be Ghouliani you know.

And what is it you do, and what Degree(s) do YOU hold?

[mitchum]

13. Well, if you are really curious...

I'm a Special Education teacher
I certainly don't make "six figures a year", but I enjoy my work.

Bachelor's in English
Master's in American Lit
Certification in Special Education

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Excellent

So as a Teacher, you probably respect anyone who pursues higher education? Correct?

Hmmm - I know a lot of people - when I went to University in the early 90's - that had to take semesters off to work full time. Or, like me, had to take a 'semester off' to do a Co-Op, and worked two jobs every summer. Especially for Mass Comm majors, it's not unusual to have work at a Radio or Television station . . . for 'Free' in order to get the experience. It's not unusual to take a job working in the PR Department of Action For a Better Community - for free. Or a Museume - for free.

Just because it doesn't measure up to your standards of a valid degree or career path . . . doesn't mean it's wrong.

People are different - that's all.

[CTyankee]

8. Well, I DID get my degree after some 40 years of my first college years!

I was initially a student at Carnegie Mellon in Fine Arts and then I transferred to NYU and took some liberal arts courses, which morphed later into "Communications" when I went back to school to finish my B.A. at the age of 55. So I ended up with a BA in communications and Fine Arts. I went on to get a Masters in Liberal Studies, finishing at the age of 62!

Oh well, if it makes you feel better to say this, I really don't care. I can stand back and be amused at it all at my advanced age...

[JustAnotherGen]

10. CTYankee

Really? Coooooooooool! :pals: I think that's fantastic.

That's one of the schools I got into (NYU) - originally for Ballet.

You know, I think it's really unfortunate in our world that poets, artists, dreamers, writers, communicators - well . . . we just don't have a lot of value - do we?

Do you also do something creative? I write short stories, and I'm trying to get a children's book published. I've also signed up to take water color classes at an Art Association here in NJ! So glad to have found a fellow High Creative amongst us.

Me? I'm in Corporate America - but you've literally seen products I've launched in commercials, boxes I've designed - I literally have the opportunity to touch our customers. I love it! :-)

[CTyankee]

11. Oh, no problem. I'm way past all that.

I have been retired only a brief time, having worked my entire professional life in the nonprofit world, mostly for causes I believed in (civil liberties, womens rights mostly). I still revere the arts and support them. My Masters final project was entitled "The Artist as a Relational Being." Pretty stuffy, but then I had to fit it into the mold I was given for the MALS degree. I loved the MALS degree program, had great courses in all kinds of things -- art, music, literature, poetry, drama, history, political science, religion, philosophy, economics, even a writers workshop. IT took me 4 1/2 years to finish but I loved every minute of it (except prolly some of the econ -- I was terrible at it).

Now I help people learn English. I will be tutoring a young person from Switzerland who learned English in high school but not enough to be fluent and is coming to my community looking for help. I like tutoring in English. I had a small class of Chinese women in conversational English and helped them primarily in learning American English idioms (they watched "Sex and the City" and took notes to bring to class!). I like it a lot.

I did an independent study in grad work on the artist Caravaggio. I also did major course work in the poetry of Emily Dickinson. I still go to them for courage and hope...

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Excellent

Aha - another 'giver' - that's good! :-) Enjoy helping others to learn the language. I spent 5 years after University volunteering through Literacy Volunteers of America teaching ESL and helping native English speakers to read and write. It's an extremely rewarding way to give one one's time!


Me? I love Modigliani and Degas. Hence my sig line - it's a Modigliani quote. . .

[mitchum]

14. "I literally have the opportunity to touch our customers"

Shouldn't that be "figuratively" rather than "literally"?
Doctors, hairdressers, and prostitutes literally touch their customers.
Sorry, but I couldn't help it.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. Nope

My work every day? Goes directly into the customer's hands. I remind my team of this every week in my staff meeting.

If we screw up, we could have a customer somewhere in Georgia (the country) who needs to reach out to their family to advise of where they are. I know I've seen my work in action - having traveled abroad with a sick parent at home. We make the world just a little bit smaller. ;-)

Regardless - it's obvious you have zero respect for anyone who doesn't do what you do, or have a 'real degree'. People are different. You only think Teachers have value.

I say the world would suck without Chopin, Modigliani, E.L. Doctorow, Garth Fagan (I've taken classes from him - he's awesome), and Adrienne Rich being here or having been here.

[mitchum]

17. But there is a difference between artists and ad men

Beethoven and PT Barnum are not the same thing

[JustAnotherGen]

2. No

Generally you also get another degree - to use the Mass Communications degree.

So go back to early 1992 - I'm taking classes from Bob Crawford and Jim Powers. Learning about the waterbed effect of media . . . and this crazy thing called the internet and how those of us pursuing concentrations in Advertising and Public relations will be impacted. Who'da thunk it? That internet thing? Who'da thunk how right those two would be.


Most of my peers have pursued careers in doing PR for the Music Industry, Go-To-Market/Segmentation/Marketing Ops (what I do), Product Launch (BTDT), public relations for non-profits . . . many of us lend our time and services to well - Public Service too! :-) A few people I know are in Publishing, and write for a living! :cheers:

My other degree is in Political Science and I had the good fortune to intern for a Democratic member of the HOR, worked on Hillary Clinton's first Senatorial Campaign, etc. etc.

Me? I wanted to be a speech writer for Bill Clinton.

What used to kill me? The dumb jock Business and Management majors who would try to take Photography 101, Journalism 300, Public Relations 204 then would be in tears when they realized they had no creative talent, ZERO writing skills, and no ability to spin . . . poor schmucks would always come out with C's and D's because either you have the ability to excel in classes of that nature or you don't. You can only teach people so much before a lack of natural talent shows itself.

[Madam Mossfern]

4. Who what when where why

MFA- Painting and Art History

[demokatgurrl]

6. I may be all wrong but I thought it was for

those who want to work in non-written media.Meaning, radio, TV, broadcasting, stuff like that, rather than newspaper or magazines.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Meh. Communications/Journalism "degrees".