Pen and paper may be out, but journalism skills are still hot.  Writers will probably never become obsolete, so schools have to start making more of them.  In an article  posted on MindShift, Esther Wojcicki, an English and journalism teacher at Palo Alto High School, explains the importance of being able to write, describing the ability as something every student should learn.  And here’s why:

The skills of a journalist are the same with those of media consumers.  Like journalists, students gather information, but unlike journalists, students are not skilled to analyze or write about the information they gather.  According to Wojcicki, schools need to teach students journalism skills—how to critically examine research and make intelligent decisions about it.

Journalism skills are essential in the digital world.  Learners, sellers, buyers, and casual web users need to know how to search for, read, and write material on the web.  Everything is online nowadays—business, entertainment, news, life.  Even when we’re outdoors, we can’t resist going online just to check our mail and Facebook pages.  Many of us spend most of our time browsing the web, doing research online, and searching for and interacting with people on social networking sites.  We need to know how to do it right.

According to Wojcicki, if students learn to use digital media well, it will provide good jobs for the students and fill an important need for the country.  In her opinion, schools should be developing students’ journalism skills because businesses look for the said skills in hiring employees.

Photo courtesy of paidContent.org.