Press: Too Many Schools

There are too many schools of journalism in the U.S. and most of them are far from good enough. This was the conclusion reached by a report issued last week by the National Council on Professional Education for Journalism—a council whose chief mover is the dean of one of the best schools, Kenneth Olson of Northwestern University.

The 32 schools which belong—by invitation only—to the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism consider themselves quite plausibly the Class A of their field. Their faculty members must have five years of practical journalistic experience. All have completely equipped city rooms, reporting and editing laboratories.

But the boom market for school training has created such a demand for it among college students that now more than 500 institutions, besides the 32 Class A schools, offer journalism courses of sort, ranging from nearly Class A caliber down to bedraggled asides in English majors.

The report of the National Council estimates that in 1939 (the year covered by its survey) 2,600 graduates were sent out to look for jobs and only 1,385 found them. Of these, 816 were Class A fledglings. Plain implication: if colleges and universities would refrain from teaching journalism, without firstclass man power, organization and equipment, a higher proportion of graduates would find jobs and would fill them better.