While I understand your point, and agree that it probably plays a role, I can’t imagine that’s all there is to it. I mean, most of us don’t have experience with homicide detectives and FBI agents, but we have images b/c of those types of characters splattered across our screens. Do most people honestly believe that’s how they are in real life? I don’t know. Maybe they really do.

I do agree that high school students need to be targeted more aggressively though. Honestly, most people I know in the US who went to college around the same time I did ended up changing their majors at least once. It was usually because they found a field in college that they previously knew nothing about. I find that sad – we’re pushed into things like general business, marketing, accounting, teaching, etc. because that’s what people know more about. So I don’t think its a problem exclusive to public relations… I do think we should have the skill set to overcome it though.

I was actually talking briefly with a friend who lectures at a college in London the other day – teaching students from around 16 to 18 about media studies issues. I’d mentioned that one of the things I find so fascinating about the difference between secondary education here in the US versus their model is that we really don’t have as much exposure to specialized training and education when we’re younger (unless you go to a trade school or some specialized art school, etc. – most students don’t). I think that’s a topic probably worth exploring more – is this more of a US issue than an industry one? And what can we do to go beyond the traditional educational system and really let more students know what their options are? Unfortunately I only have the questions; not the answers.

I think the best thing we can do is get to high school students early. Even those who do not go into PR will actually have an accurate perception of what PR is.

Glad you enjoy the discussions.

Sometimes I really wonder if, during my career, we’re going to see real PR vanish and simply end up sucked under the umbrella of “integrated marketing communications” as though we’re just a form of marketer instead of working in a different (albeit related) field. I know plenty of marketers (especially in Internet marketing) who like to think they can cover all things PR – without knowing what a lot of that really is. With the general public (and therefore a lot of our potential clients) not really understanding PR any better, I sometimes wonder if we’re slowly just being replaced.

(Great post and responses. I dig reading your stuff.)

I’m glad to see as I study the field more carefully that this stereotype isn’t always true, but there are enough bad examples (greenwashing and astroturfing come to mind) that stick in the minds of the public at large to give the field a perennially tarnished image.