Soundboard: some thoughts on college and the state of online writing
As I've mentioned before, I sometimes use Collision Course as a soundboard for ideas, or a rubber duck debugger for life. Right now, I'm thinking about college courses.
Next week, I'll have to start thinking about what classes I want to take during the Fall 2014 semester. Set aside the scary fact that I'll no longer be a freshman (and will almost have the title of most collegially-educated Collison son...), I have to decide what courses I want to take.
Given my recent interest in Edward Snowden, I think I want to take a law class. Reading through David Miranda's high court decision a couple weeks back, I realized I know nothing about law jargon but actively want to. Maybe a law class at NYU is the answer. I've to meet with my academic advisor this week, and he'll know better than I do.
All through high school, I said that I wanted to study journalism at university. I'm not so sure I want to be a journalist right now, but that's not a problem. I get the impression from people that you don't need to (or even shouldn't, perhaps) have a concrete idea of what you want to do. I can't see myself wanting to be a philosopher, and yet here I am doing a philosophy class this semester. You're supposed to do outlandish classes without any clear link to your interests at college -- especially since I have the chance to study in the US. From talking to university lecturers in Ireland, you're "frogmarched" through the education system. Want to be a lawyer? Here's your four-year plan.
Back to journalism -- I don't know if I want to be a journalist, but I think I mean "I don't want to be one in the traditional sense of the word". I know that I love writing, and if we look at the state of online writing, it's clear from the likes of John Gruber and Andrew Sullivan and James Fallows that it's possible to build up an online following without being a 9-to-5 print journalist. People subscribe to the Sullivan-esque subscription model because they believe (as I do) that his writing's worth $20 a year. In my view, it's a more gratifying monetization strategy because it changes the relationship between reader and writer. As a reader, I'm no longer treated as a pair of eyeballs being bombarded with ads -- I pay for Sullivan to be able to produce his site, The Dish.
If we take the above as true (that great writers can be supported by their readers/other sponsors if the quality is high enough [1]), the question a college student who loves writing comes to this: what should I do with my time? Obviously, writing comes pretty high on that list -- it's a muscle like any other that gets stronger with practice. In terms of college courses, I definitely think taking a wide range of classes in things you find interesting (or just think you might -- a quarter of your semester's work isn't that big an investment) is the best way to go, which is why I'd love to take an introductory law class next semester. NYU doesn't let freshmen take journalism classes, and you start the journalism degree with a class called Investigating Journalism. I'm tempted not to take the class next semester -to delay starting a journalism degree at all- until Spring 2014 or even my junior year. It's becoming increasingly apparent that a journalism degree at an undergrad level isn't required to be a journalist -- maybe a graduate degree, but I can kick that can down the road for years yet.
In broad terms, I think I want a law class, another politics class, maybe a creative writing workshop, and something in computer science next semester. I'll narrow that down when I meet with my academic advisor, and update Collision Course once I'm registered.
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[1] By my estimation, John Gruber makes $481,000 a year if he sells all 52 of Daring Fireball's weekly sponsorship slots.
