Some good convo on here.
2 things that stick out to me on the latest posts, education style, and expectations.
I’m not an educator, but I don’t think the school should be a duplicate of the professional studio. The school by nature is an academic environment and there are some things better learned in that setting, protected from industry, where it is safe to explore and learn. As Emman said, UC has the unique alternating Co-op program which is a great balance. You get the benefits of apprenticeships alternating with academic periods where you can absorb and process… that said, the academic can’t ignore the professional world. It can be informed by it, respond to it, and hopefully help shape the direction of the professional world.
When I did teach, I always gave points for exceeding expectations, but it can be a double edge sword. If the assignment is to do 20 sketches, and you 25, but they all are terrible, it isn’t going to go well. One of the techniques that my professors used to do was assign 30 concepts, but only post up your top 5. That way if you did 30, 40, or 50, it din’t matter. the only thing that mattered was could you accurately judge and select your top 5… of course you could do 5 good ones and phone the rest in with crap… nothing is perfect I guess! The other 25 concepts would be in a pile and they would randomly count a few of the students, or flip through to see if they picked their best 5.
This going way OT, but some great convo. The last few conversations that have caught on remind me a bit more of the old days of deep and thoughtful discussion. I dig it.