Used to be there was a couple of years of math, English and science and a basic class in your major that you started in college.
I found my transcripts hidden deep in my computer and took a peek. At Mississippi Delta Junior College my freshman year in 1982 I was in English Composition for two semesters (B, B), News Reporting (A), College Publications for two semesters (A, A), Production Studies – Choir and TJs (A, A), Interpersonal Communication or Speech Class (A), Modern Europe or Western Civ under the late Charlie Joiner (C), American National Government (C), Music Appreciation (A), another semester of Modern Europe for another C and then Mass Communications where I got a C. The GPA isn’t listed but sad to say this was the highest point it would be for the next four years.
Now, not everything is learned in the classroom. In Journalism you have to go out and find and cover a story. There’s the out-of-class work that took me from the corridors of Farley Hall where my first ever radio story was on the Franklin Press and the who, what, when, where, why and how of it.
And that out-of-classroom work took me to Tad Smith Coliseum and all over the campus to the Universities of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi State, Texas and even Western Kentucky where I wrote a story for the newspaper, put together a sports report for the student TV station and radio station and came back to campus and created the Van Chancellor Show where I learned the best lesson...
Shut up and let the coach talk. I’d open the show welcoming everyone and say something like, “Coach, you had a good week last week taking on State )or Georgia or LSU.)” Then he’d talk for 15 minutes. Then I’d say something like, “Coach, you’ve got a tough week coming up with Tennessee (or Auburn or Kentucky).” Then he’d talk for another 15 minutes and then I’d thank everybody for watching and ask them to tune in at the same time next week.
That education wasn’t reflected on my transcripts but has helped me in each and every interview since then. I read where State Auditor Shad White, a red and blue Rebel himself, is looking to defund some college majors. From a Clarion Ledger story he said, “Some high-paying degree programs were not likely to produce graduates who work in Mississippi, and this represents a missed opportunity for the state’s taxpayers. Producing more of these graduates and then retaining even a small number of them would inject millions of additional dollars into Mississippi’s economy.”
He went on to say, “At the same time, the state should cut taxpayer funding for programs in the social sciences, humanities and arts that aren't advantageous for the state’s economy,” and he pointed to a 2023 Texas law that bases funding for community colleges on “measurable outcomes” like the number of degrees awarded in high-demand fields.
At first I think, heck, yeah. But the journalist in me says, hold on, Shad. We all went to school with folks who majored in something like basket weaving. It’s their momma and daddy’s money and they can study whatever they want. I reckon the real education will come “outside of that classroom” when they have to find a job.
When I got out of school with my freshly minted degree, my education was just beginning.
The two sports reporter jobs that were promised didn’t come through and I started my vagabond and prodigal son journey. Part-time radio work, part-time weekly newspaper work and then selling men’s clothes part time and soon temporary secretarial work here and there with writing on the side. Then a missionary for five years before getting into corporate writing and getting downsized a few times and finally working as my own boss and freelancing. Oh, and there was the part-time work at an apple cider mill. My hands still smell like mildew from those gloves 20 years ago.
Education continues each and every day no matter the major you declared all those years ago. I wouldn’t change my major and I’m sure the folks that Shad wants to redirect will look back one day and be thankful if he doesn’t succeed.
Yes, we need more vo-tech types but we also need the basket weavers and figuring that out is just part of life and everybody is on their own and different journey. Let this one be, Shad and go recoup more of that misplaced Medicare money from that fellah in Kiln.
I wonder what his major was?
