Where Did Journalism Classes Go?

In the last decade over 200 high schools in California have scrubbed journalism. Nationally, the situation is similarly worrisome.

According to Anita Luera, a director at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Arizona, "Many high school journalism programs have suffered in recent years, the victim of budget cuts and other priorities, especially at schools with large minority populations"...A study by the Newspaper Association of America showed that students who worked on high school papers and yearbooks scored better on college admission tests and tended to have higher grades in their first year of college. Notably, while the journalism trend line is plunging at high schools, it is actually rising at the college level...the knowledge gap between those whose schools offered journalism and those for whom it was no longer available was stunning. It's difficult to imagine the latter group succeeding in college journalism courses.