From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 08/29/00-03:35:58 PM Z
Hi Ivan and all...!!!
There was a time about 1980 (or earlier) when the idea of *photography* as
an academic study arrived, that the country went from very few photography
programs to some kind of program in nearly every school (to paraphrase
Rob't Hirsch interviewed in upcoming P-F, if I may be forgiven the plug,
even if not). At that point there was a real demand for photography
teachers or "professors."
Then the need was filled, also crunch hit education in general, and there
were all those departments struggling to stay alive. Do you think they
would permit students to NOT fill their classes? And do you think those
teachers would resign for the next cohort to get jobs? After all, one
teacher turns out 30-60 students.
As for the requirement of an MFA for teaching, why ever not? There are
too many applicants as it is. The degree is one way of pre-screening, also
CYA, because there will always be the disgruntled. If a person is
officially qualified, that's some protection. (And you always had to get a
degree to teach in college, they've just upped it by a level.)
For what it's worth, most of what I learned about anything -- art, life,
photo, home repair, etc. -- I taught myself. Also, and DO NOT FORGET: The
methods and ideas of art that were current and effective in getting
someone that coveted teaching position will be NUL and VOID within a very
few years and, except for an exceptionally gifted teacher (of whom I had
exactly one, at the best schools), useless to students in building their
own careers.
OK I take that back -- maybe OK for building a "career" along daisy
chain, but probably antithetical to, pardon the expression, creativity.
And of course it goes without saying, any *technical education* has the
lifespan of a Mayfly these days. As I used to tell students : "Everything
you learn as 'photography' in your regular classes will be obsolete in 5
years." Now maybe sooner.
HOWEVER, grad school was great, essential -- a cadre of interesting people
who are my best friends to this day. Photography is in many ways a
communal experience -- a milieu. Nobody can know every last thing they
need to know in a large, complex, evolving field. Before I went to grad
school I didn't know a single photographer, or where to find one, or how
to learn how to find one-- which was why I went. Artschool and/or grad
school for better or worse situate -- or socialize, or initiate -- the
creature into that world. Now to some extent the internet (& the list) can
close that gap... but only partly. (And I learned about this list from
someone I met in the halls of academe. Literally, bumped into him in the
hall.)
As for *required courses* -- I would distrust any school that didn't
require some courses. If you know enough to know where you're going
entirely in advance... you may be so gifted you really don't need school.
The stuff I loved I would have learned anyway on my own. The couple of
courses (way back at Cooper Union) that I HATED, and would never have
taken (drafting, lettering) proved far more useful than the
then-prevailing aesthetics.
Judy
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