is talent really determined by the school?

Many people seem to think that the school you attend determines how talented you are…i agree, but only to an extent.

Talent is important, but the right school/ teacher/ program brings out the potential of the student to the fullest.

You can have tons of talent but without anyone to show you how good you should be. Or you can have little talent but maximised by the right environment.

School gives you an education. Talent and intelligence are something you have way before you enter any school.

Yes I agree the the right school and/or teacher can help you develop these but a good student can learn anywhere.

It right , a school is importent ,

please people I would like to know how to post my work under my coment , can you explain me the way ?

I 'v never attend design school , I did self lurning on interned , I’m Cameroonian and in my country no design school exist .
I was mentored by Mr Huber of Mesh01 and Pietro Pelliceli on line during 4 years , I wone 4 times scholarshipe to attend the Pensole school in USA , but unfortunatly I didn’t have the amound money to pay for my living cust in USA during the classe and I missed the classes.


I 'v never attend design school , I did self lurning on interned , I’m Cameroonian and in my country no design school exist .
I was mentored by Mr Huber of Mesh01 and Pietro Pelliceli on line during 4 years , I wone 4 times scholarshipe to attend the Pensole school in USA , but unfortunatly I didn’t have the amound money to pay for my living cust in USA during the classe and I missed the classes. :frowning:

this concept is the one I won the WSC competion with.

Thanks for posting Emerique.
Your story highlights how frustrating it must be for aspiring designers in the developing world to further their skills and get a foot in the door with the industry.

I wish rich and subsidised universities and colleges in the US and Europe would take more of an interest in building campuses in Asia, South America but specifically Africa, instead of making the students come to them.
Visas, tuitions and living costs are just often too steep, no matter your passion.

Sadly what is happening in the US and Europe today is exactly the opposite. We are closing borders.

100% agree. I would add that the internet can show you how good you should be. Most top talent seems to not feel the need to do all the website portfolio/PR stuff, but still a lot of really talented people to like to share all their work.

Another factor is talent level and type of your student group. My group wasn’t overly heavy on ‘born industrial designers,’ a lot of UX and related field design talent though. Luckily the two years ahead of me in the program were, and I gleaned a lot from watching them and having a few mentors/TAs.

Talent is about having a right combination of biopsychosocial factors - it is just as much the individual’s skill and motivation as it is the right conducive social and physical environment that counts. Then it is a matter of targeted practice to let someone’s talent unfold.

The best example I know of unfolding talent are The Beatles - when they started playing in Hamburg in the early 60s they were plain bad musicians. But the environment was right - they attracted people, they had a few bars they could play in, they were good friends and had tons of motivation to do something great. So after 8.000 hours of playing they had become great and soon after their first hit song followed.

With designers of course it’s somewhat different as they have to work together closely with multiple stakeholders, but still individual talent needs to be recognized and fostered by a school - and the educational framework should be geared towards giving students good awareness and skills in various fields, while also letting an individual student put focus on the areas they excel in and developing an own identity and vision.