Educations & Newspapers

These days, there is a lot of debate whether or not education and newspapers are dying out. While I feel as though times are changing, the two powerhouses will not simply "go away". In the Onion video "End of Newspapers", the commentators make jokes about what the "loons" will do when there are no more newspapers and how they will have to find new ways to clutter their houses. While, newspaper sales have certainly decreased, i just can not see a complete cease to newspaper sales. Brian Steffens disagrees in his article, "Newspapers Dead", paid circulation has dropped 20% while readership is actually stated to be growing. What I found interesting from this article is that sales in virtually every industry have dropped 20%, but not many people are pinpointing the other industries. In Mark Little's "The News is Dead", he states that he sees new opportunities in the news. From hearing about Micheal Jackson's death via twitter, he realized that news should be in niche areas, instead of only on the television or news websites. By using facebook and twitter, I whole-heartedly agree that real time news is the way of the future. As for education, what struck me the most was in Ian Jukes' "From Gutenberg to Google" article where he quotes former Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Riley stated that the top 10 demanded jobs in 2010 are not the same as they were a few years before, which shows the changing times. Therefore, by today's cirriculum, students are being prepared for jobs that no longer exist. I believe that in today's economy, students should be trained in areas that interest them, also in the ways that are best for them. I believe that online education programs should be offered to high school students if needed depending on their needs, as well as a program much like those of colleges, with a specific track intended acting as "majors.''