An interesting take on the state of design education in the USA that reflects some of what I've been saying in the UK:
Point . Design: We Don't Need No "Education": "There are so many GD programs out there. You have to be suspicious of them. Many of them seem to be very questionable, luring students into expensive, interminable (already usually 5 or more years from my experience) confrontations with limited levels of design thinking and practice, possibly retarding students more than anything."
Visual Communication: From Theory to Practice
(Winner of 'Best Higher Education Title' at the British Book Awards 2006)
by Jonathan Baldwin and Lucienne Roberts
More Than A Name: An introduction to branding
by Melissa Davis and Jonathan Baldwin
1 comment:
Thank you for posting this.
I'd like to contextualize it a bit. I wrote this originally in response to Steven Heller's post on the AIGA forum entitled "What This Country Needs is a Good Five Year Design Program".
My first school was a community college, very much a vocational school. I learned the skills I needed to get a job. I wanted to learn a bit more, though, so I took an extra year including some non-design classes.
I transferred to a four-year school only to start all over again in Design 1, with sophomores who had never done any design before. Having had over two years of intensive design study, I thought that this school I tranferred into was being extremely pretentious. They seemed to be following the more and more common idea that students should have at least 5 years of education, without intending to make better use of that time.
My main point is that if schools want to have 5-year programs, they damn well better start delivering something more.
In my case, it would have taken me 6 years to get my BFA, but I decided to leave with just my BA after 2 years of redundant "education". I spent the time trying to get the real education that SHOULD be delivered in a 4 or 5 year program, but isn't. I obviously have a problem now, because my BA is meaningless. It says nothing about what I've learned on my own. A BA in Design is inferior to a BFA (I never got to do the final-year bigger projects that would be good portfolio pieces) and also, due to the common perceptions, the BA is quite useless in helping me get any other kind of job, competent or not.
I'm not a teacher, just a recent graduate, but I'm glad to hear that there are some challenges coming from those who may have a role in changing this. For my part, I have been trying to raise the consciousness of students to the poor quality of education that they are getting, and to encourage them to rebel as much as possible.
Post a Comment