Journalism instructor buried the lede

Dear Amy: I always dreamed of becoming a reporter, so I took “Newswriting 101” for four credits at my local community college.

Based on the catalog description, I expected to cover a lot of material and eventually transfer the credits to a university program, but our instructor, “Jack,” had other ideas.

Instead of challenging students to learn journalistic skills, Jack said he made big money posting on the internet.

After covering a few basic concepts, he ignored the “boring” required textbook and just assigned random internet videos for us to watch.

Rather than prepare lectures, he repeatedly cut short our weekly Zoom classes and even canceled three classes at the last minute without explanation.

I’m serious about my studies, and I want to continue, but this class didn’t give me the academic knowledge I need to build on. Should I go to the dean of the college and inform them that class time was cut by more than half?

I don’t want to hurt Jack during the current economic downturn, but I believe the students were seriously short-changed by the low level of instruction. What should I do?

Reporting

Dear Reporting: Not to put too fine a point on it, but if Jack really was making “big money” on the internet, he would not be fleecing the local community college.

I’m impressed by your standards, your attitude, and your fierce desire to learn. You have already used some reporting skills to build a factually accurate case about Jack, and now I encourage you to take your case to the dean.

Dear Amy: Your very dumb response to the mom who didn’t like her husband’s daily pot smoking [“Smoked Out”] revealed your prejudice about pot.

There is nothing wrong with smoking pot. If she doesn’t like the smoke, he should use edibles or vape his pot.

Daily User

Dear User: Edibles and vaping are good suggestions for avoiding some of the toxins in pot smoke. I view pot use as I would view alcohol use. Although the effects are very different from these two substances, I believe that using either drug all day long, every day, is not a healthy choice.