mel jacobson on sat 24 oct 98
one thing that i know for sure.......no professors teaching art in the
minnesota area made any more money than as i did teaching high school.
and my benefit package was very good..........i realize that i taught
many more hours, but the total package was much better. i made that
choice years ago, and it has paid many dividends for me and my family.
it is also very difficult to make full professor when teaching art. just a
few make that grade.
in many colleges, departments negotiate their own wages....art is usually
on the bottom rung of the ladder. when one compares the wages of
the faculty of law, medicine, engineering and other sciences, art is very
low, very, almost starvation wages. (in fact a friend of mine did a
calculation
that a beginning teacher, with three kids, would qualify for food stamps.)
i think it is very discouraging to be placed in that position, and can
sympathize
with many college teachers of art.....it is a very difficult hurdle to get
over.
the society just does not want to give money for the instruction of art.
all you have to do is listen to the ads for political offices......`we will
get back
to the basics`.......meaning, get rid of so called frills. and when you
travel around
the country, it is amazing how the ads sound just the same.......the same
themes, the same wording...education, but at our needs, not yours.
many of my students come back to me with horror stories of college
art classes, and they are often not far from the mark. but, i really try to
take the position of the teacher or professor, and often know what they
are going through, and know how discouraged they are.
one thing for sure, and i have been there for years, there is no excuse
for abuse, laziness, or gender or racial bias in any classroom in the world.
there is a big difference in the scope and direction of the major `land grant`
universities in america, it is still based on research, and that includes the
art department. as it should be.
small colleges, state colleges and training institutions have different goals.
as it should be.
i guess the bottom line for me, and i have said it many times....i have no
time for laziness and ego driven attitudes in the classroom. do the job,
respect the students, all the students, and get on with the profession
of being an artist.
because, if one is a bad teacher, and is making bad art, or no art at
all, you have a big time loser, and that loser is wasting the time of
many students.
as i have stated on this venue before, i completed 90 graduate credits
at the university of minnesota in painting......when i was over 55 years
of age, had my own graduate show, and sold all the paintings.
my instruction was superb, my time spent in the classroom was terrific,
but i also demanded good instruction, wrote letters to the dean when
i got it, and praised those fine professors. and had an occasion to write
a very nasty letter about some negative things. and that was my job, to
respect the instruction, do my assignments the best i could, and demand
quality instruction. that is how i taught my seniors going to college,
demand
quality, and give it back, or do not come whining to me.
mel/mn
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
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