on 18/8/03 15:02, Norman Childs wrote: > There are about three thousand students coming out of photographic colleges...There are many colleges where numbers are all that matters. I believe this leads to large numbers of students coming out of colleges unprepared for the difficulties that lie ahead.
Scary huh? That means that currently there are about 9,000 would be "image makers" supposedly learning how to do what...? The seeming irrelevancy of much of college education is hardly suprising given that with the need for colleges to provide "approved" courses it is increasingly difficult for colleges to use working photographers as lecturers if they do not have teaching diplomas. This means that increasingly all photographic courses will become the preserve of academic theorists simply because people who actually walk the talk do not have the formal qualifications to be allowed to go and impart their knowledge. There has always been a divide between the general industry and the educationalists - judging from surveys I have seen we seemingly want people who can make cups of tea and sweet-talk clients and colleges want people who can prepare 10,000 words theses. The increasing divide is sad and all too often the debate about who is right and wrong is just people trying to protect their own little empire. The reality is that a great deal of money gets ill-spent and college leavers are not prepared for the realities of life where without the actual opportunity work a diploma is simply just another flush in the pan. Mike St Maur Sheil T> + 44 (0) 1367 870 276 F> + 44 (0) 1367 870 641 M> + 44 (0) 7860 508 679 W> www.sheilphoto.co.uk ---------------------------- =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
