Thanks to the GI Bill for all WW2 Veterans, I had my Art Education in the 40's. And since, held well paid jobs as an Animator and later as a Toy sculptor and designer for all the Major doll companies and all the while did my Fine Art sculpture to this day,today. ab On Feb 9, 2013, at 12:55 PM, William Conger wrote:
> Back in the 50s and 60s only about 10% of the population went to college. For > the most part they studied whatever interested them and plenty of them chose the > humanities. Most of the graduates who entered the work force after college > were, of course, men. Women had few options other than nurse, teacher, or > secretary. It didn't matter if graduates had majored in English, History, or > even art, the bigger employers ran their own training programs which introduced > the best new employees to their business cultures and practices and they > preferred 'well-rounded' young men who could write a decent letter, speak > properly, hold their own in lively conversation, dress well enough and exhibit > good manners. This doesn't mean that the majority of kids had good grammar > school and high school educations. They didn't. Most were quite illiterate and > aimed for a good factory job at best, or looked to the required military service > for technical training. Only the best prepared -- and most representative of a > white-collar middle class -- went to college and thus were all but preselected > for American business regardless of their academic specialties. Being without > family I had to work right away after college. I was hired as a copywriter even > though I had majored in art. Then after a few years I became a corporate > advertising manager and was on a fast track for a job with bespoke suits, fancy > cars, model girlfriends, and plenty of cash. Nobody ever asked me if I had > studied advertising in school or had any training in writing ads, etc. If I > had not quit business and gone to grad school and then to teaching art, I > probably would've had a successful career as an advertising or corporate > executive. > > Nowadays it's much different. English majors and History majors can't get entry > jobs in business. Art grads are fashionable -- somewhat -- because the buzz is > that they know how to think creatively. (Very dubious). More than 30% of young > people now finish college (and 20% of those are still illiterate and narrow, I > think). Business no longer run their own training programs (thanks to the > community college). They want new employees to know what to do the first day. > wc > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sat, February 9, 2013 10:47:31 AM > Subject: Re: Skills children learn from the arts > > On Feb 9, 2013, at 11:14 AM, saulostrow <[email protected]> wrote: > >> very english Public School and ivy thinking - not very American public >> school were literacy was the goal > > "... where literacy was the goal." > > > and later > >> Actually, what seems to have done this was the destruction of the middle >> classes who once thought education was not only a way to get ahead but to >> improve one's self - sometime in the 70s when the middle classes because >> they were the only one with economic reserves became economically >> vulnerable as such improving oneself came to mean preserving oneself >> economically - the irony is that today, education does not guarantee one >> will do better than their parents > > So it comes down to a Marxist view of history in terms of economic struggles? > > Or do you mean the 70s, when the 60s radicals began to get faculty positions > in high schools and colleges and to promote the notion that "right" and > "wrong" answers are social constructs that only serve to sustain the hegemony > of privilege? That preferences of grammatical forms and logical arguments are > social discriminators that promote the racist subtext of society? That effort > and intent are equivalent to results? That rote work in school is conditioning > the drones for the assembly line? > > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady
