What do you want to be when you want to grow up?

What do you want to be when you want to grow up?

That's the question many of us answered when we were children.  Of course, many of the standard responses were these:

"I want to be a fireman."

"I want to be a policeman."

"I want to be a doctor."

"I want to be a nurse."

"I want to be a teacher."

But, as we do that actual growing up, people who have a passion for storytelling might want to consider the following careers:

"I want to be a journalist."

"I want to work in public relations."

"I want to get into sales."

OK, so you're asking, those of you who are reading this post: "Where are you going with this?"  

The bottom line is, with the way things are with the economy, and especially with the media industry, deciding what you want to be when you grow up is not as easy as we think it is.

In fact, at the University of North Carolina journalism school, up to 70 percent of the students who study there aren't actually studying journalism.  They're studying PR, advertising, or other related fields. 

Why?  Maybe it's because those students are starting to realize just that this isn't their parents media landscape.  Or their grandparents.  Or even their great-grandparents, for that matter.

Or maybe, just maybe, that journalism and PR might be one and the same (or no difference) within the 10 years after they graduate.  Who knows?

Those realities alone might make it harder for one to answer that curious question:
What do you want to be when you want to grow up?

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