Integrity

Lawrence Pitts is my hero.

He writes columns about the necessary integrity of journalists. He's not shy about pointing out that bloggers, post-ers, tweeters (twits) and other random people who see themselves as journalists are just random people who erroneously see themselves as journalists.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Journalism is a craft more than a profession. It may even be a calling. It's not a hobby. It's not something you do in your spare time. And it's not something you do without even a nod to ethics.

Thou shalt not ambush. Thou shalt not lie. Thous shalt not impersonate someone. These are basic rules no real journalist would ever think of violating. The denizens of the blogosphere don't seem to think at all.

Students?

So the City University of New York and its Community College are inundated with students who need remedial help.

NYC isn't alone in this problem. A shocking (at least to those of us who learned something in high school) number of young people who graduate high school don't seem to have high school skills. Some of them barely have elementary school skills.

I'm sure there are myriad culprits, including social promotion, overcrowded classes, language barriers, lack of motivation, learning disabilities. . .But the point is not everyone SHOULD go to college. Who's telling these kids they should be in college.

Why are they even walking through the door.

In high school, there used to be college prep, business and general courses. Kids who weren't going to college took classes that would help them get jobs. Granted there are fewer jobs now that don't require a college education, but still, there are tech schools and apprenticeships and if a kid can't make it in college he or she should take advantage of those. If even half of the kids who don't qualify for college don't actually go, that would save the schools enormous aggravation and lots of money.

As for them not being ready in the first place, that's fodder for another blog.