Placing demands on journalism schools

The blog post “Eight things that journalism students should demand from their journalism schools” by Robert Niles, on The Online Journalism Review (OJR) is an article about 8 things that journalism students should insist their journalism schools give them. I want to discuss some of the topics in the light of how Rhodes journalism department is handling them and also how I am (or am not) doing these things in my own personal capacity.
Niles states the journ students should demand “employment contacts” from their schools. I feel that in the Rhodes journ department, we are encouraged to forge our own employment contacts by being ‘forced’ to do vac work each year as part of our degrees. Not only does this allow us to gain some practical experience in various media organisations, but the sensible student, would foster the contacts that they meet during these vac work periods. I have worked at 702 radio station for the past two years and when I went back last year for my second stint, the reporters recognized me and gave me more responsibility and spent more time teaching me things than in the previous year.
I agree with Niles that students should gain “work experience” in a field other than journalism as well as gain a “deep knowledge of a field other than journalism.” Being a specialist in a certain field will make finding a job in journalism in that field easier. However, if one only has knowledge of that field, it could also be a limiting factor. Journalism students should have a wide general knowledge and knowledge of various fields in order to make them more employable. Being a specialist in a certain field could also be helpful, because in the rapidly changing world of journalism, where internet access allows people access to all kinds of information, expert knowledge would allow you to be a step ahead of all the other rubbish information that is available on the web. Rhodes University automatically ensures that journalism students are specialists in another field, because we have to major in two subjects – namely journalism and at least one other subject.
Niles suggests that journalism schools should make students start their own online publications to make them more employable. The Rhodes Journalism department is already doing this by encouraging first year journalism students to start blogs. The third year writing and TV students are also encouraged to keep blogs.
However, with most of the points that Niles makes, I don’t agree that student should be demanding these things from the journalism schools. Yes, the journalism schools should be suggesting these things to students to make them aware of opportunities and of ways to make starting their careers easier, but many of these things are things that students should be doing of their own accord and should not need to be spoon-fed by their school or university.