Fewer electives leave Toros underprepared for tough job market.
By Jonte’ Williams, Staff Reporter
I’ve had some great experiences as a student here at CSUDH. As a senior journalism student, I’m grateful for all the lessons my professors have taught me.
As great as the professors are, though, I still feel like I lack some of the skills necessary for me to land a job in the industry. Just to be clear, the professors themselves aren’t to blame for that. They’re doing the best they can under the current circumstances, which we all know by now are due to the budget problems affecting the entire California State University system.
The issue, in my opinion, is that low enrollment at CSUDH increasingly puts Toros across the board at a disadvantage.
When enrollment drops, the dominoes start to fall. Fewer students mean fewer classes, which means fewer faculty are needed to teach them. That leads to fewer electives and, ultimately, fewer opportunities for students to sharpen their skills.
For journalism students like me, that means limited chances to hone our craft and build a competitive portfolio of work. Our faculty do their best to teach us the skills we need to succeed but they can only do so much. Without enough electives to help us further develop those skills, we’re limited to the work we produce for The Bulletin or at our internships.
To go from writing one or two stories for an entire course, to reporting stories every two weeks is quite the adjustment for some students. I have no problem admitting that was the case for me this semester.
Having a wide range of classes available gives students the skills we need in the job market. The more classes students take, the better prepared they are for the job market.
This is a campus-wide problem, unfortunately. The budget and enrollment issues affecting CSU—and CSUDH, especially—leave some students unprepared to effectively pursue careers in their chosen field. The Journalism program is doing relatively well in terms of enrollment, which makes me concerned for students studying less popular majors.
As my Bulletin colleagues have reported previously, lower enrollment in some programs puts them at risk of consolidation or, worst-case scenario, elimination.
I don’t know what the solution is to that, honestly. You can’t make something out of nothing, obviously, but one option in the meantime may be to tailor courses based on a preliminary survey of students’ skills.
We already do this in some classes. Journalism students, for example, must pass an English Proficiency Exam in one of the required courses. The exam isn’t graded, but it is required and helps both students and instructors recognize areas that need development.
A similar approach could work across other majors, allowing instructors to understand students’ skill levels early and tailor lessons to meet them where they are. Instead of spending valuable time catching students up on the basics, a short skills assessment before the semester begins could help everyone start on the same page.
CSUDH instructors are doing the best they can—and much of this is beyond their control—but that doesn’t mean students shouldn’t hope for more.
This university has tremendous potential to uplift underserved communities across the South Bay. To realize that potential, CSUDH needs to protect its academic diversity and reimagine course content in light of enrollment challenges.
Otherwise, too many students will enter an increasingly competitive job market armed with only the basics. And that doesn’t serve anyone, least of all the students who come here to succeed.