Half Moon Bay High School to start print-only journalism class

Half Moon Bay High School is dropping its mass media class, which involves broadcasting and print, and is starting a print-only journalism class this fall, the Half Moon Bay Review reports.

The switch is due to the fact that the University of California wouldn't certify the mass media class for purposes of its four-year-university track. UC deemed the class, taught by former sportscaster Pat Olson, "too vocational."

The print journalism class, on the other hand, is apparently approved by the UC and CSU systems.

The Review says that 40 students have signed up for the new print journalism class this fall, which exceeds the 35-student threshold the school district set for funding a class. The instructor will be English teacher Alyssa Neilson.

Olson's mass media class produced both a quarterly newspaper, the Cougar Roar, and a daily TV newscast. The mass media class may become a club.

In April's Cougar Roar, student and school newscaster Dylan Gallup wrote about his frustration with the cancelation of the mass media class.

“It is much more likely that students will get a good job in the television or video field than as a newspaper writer," Gallup wrote. "Newspapers are becoming less common, and colleges across the country are eliminating journalism curriculum.”