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  1. This is the biggest load of white guy bullshit ever. While i would say some of what he has to say is a good idea PRIOR to an art education. The rest is absolute crap. Don’t fall into the anti-intellectual trap. Look at his writing, compare it to the writing in the New Yorker & tell me again that college is worthless. Think about the ideas and thinkers (that you can’t find on the internet and who probably exist outside of the limited worldview of an 18yo suburbanite even if they are on the internet) that you found out about IN COLLEGE. If i had it to do over again I would Major in philosophy (how to argue an idea effectively (and form one in the first place)), and double minor in business & photography (what actually makes me $$$). What actually needs to change is the idea that college=job training. It doesn’t. What college is is an opportunity to learn to be an engaged informed member of society. That, sadly, many of us miss…

    • I agree Kenneth, I recently started reading philosophy to try and improve photography and can attest to the fact that there is more value in reading Hegel’s lectures on aesthetics than just about anything else I’ve done in photography.

      The problem with college is that it’s not supposed to be a job training program for everybody. The original university system was based on “universals” and was supposed to produce well-rounded individuals that would then take their education into other aspects of life. For example, I know of someone that went to Yale and majored in philosophy only to return to his hometown and and run his dad’s construction company. The purpose of school for him wasn’t to get a job, it was to make him a better person.

      Universities are for people that want to learn and they aren’t supposed to be a job-welfare program. Also, you’re totally right that a lot of college bashing is really just some kind of disguised version of anti-intellectualism.

    • You got it.

  2. What I lack in a college degree I did make up for in life experience, and for that I am forever grateful. I spent my late teens and early twenties working my own angles on the “hustle” which eventually pushed me into production and photo assistant work, and four years later into my own busy photography business. Rather than spend money on an art school or other educational learning facility I threw myself straight into the industry, made money, and gained real-life experience and education. I learned from the best, got paid, and grew as a photographer and a young lady. There are times when I have some regret over not attaining a college degree, but in the whole scheme of things I’m much more grateful for the “real-world” experience I’ve gained by pushing myself forward and into situations and jobs that the younger version of me would have never dreamed of.
    I think furthering your education is a great thing. I just believe there are a number of ways to go about it, that don’t necessarily require a huge student loan or a for-profit art school. My last two interns have come from the photography program at the Art Institute (of Portland) and they have both exclaimed to me how much more they had learned through interning and assisting me in the office and on shoots then they had all year in school. Mainly because I taught them the truths about the business they are trying to break into. My focus was to teach them all the things I learned as a photo assistant, and how I run my business. In my opinion those are two of the most important lessons for young, eager photographers to learn. I want to send my interns out in to the world, able to assist on any shoot, and to do that for at least a year or two while working on developing a badass portfolio. Then have an exit strategy to move from assisting into shooting. It seems to be working very well for them.

    Enough ranting. Go to school. Or don’t. Just do something awesome with your life.

  3. No one NEEDS a college education, but it doesn’t hurt to have one.
    I think that what going to college is really all about is learning how to learn new things. Being exposed to ideas and information the you might never get around to on your own.
    Things like accounting, marketing and management that you will find of great value when you start your own business.
    Some of my friends who call themselves “Artists” seem to be lacking in the basic business skills that would help them have a more “successful” art business.
    Assuming you want to have an art business. If you aren’t interested in having a business then don’t worry about it and just make art. It will also be useful to find a patron who will take you to lunch so you’ll have something to eat now and then.
    Simply “making art” doesn’t pay very well. It’s true money doesn’t buy happines, but it does buy comfort and it’s easier to be happy when you’re comfotable and have enough to eat. It will also help you sustain your art making.


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