| Tumultuous
Years
There is no endeavor in the world that is more exhilarating
and rewarding than being a member of a qualified and dedicated
Graphic Design faculty working together as a team with students
who are committed, talented and eager to learn. The situation
begins with faculty members as students tend to mirror their
instructors. The quality of faculty usually originates with
the Department or Program Head based on an assumption that
one good person recruits another. A noteworthy and productive
educational program lasts only as long as it is recognized
and supported by the administration. These are the determinates
of effective education rather than money, equipment, space
or the number of students or reputation of teachers or schools.
There
are few good programs in Graphic Design in this country and
some of the reasons are that too many teachers are themselves
graduates of weak educational programs; poor instruction and
curriculum usually result in graduates who are ineffectual
at teaching. Administrators do not always recognize instructional
abilities because they are hired mainly for fiscal or management
skills. They often hire, appoint or promote unqualified people
to educational positions. Within universities, teachers are
more likely to be hired on the basis of academic rather than
professional credentials or proven teaching abilities. Largely
because of financial pressures, the educational system frequently
adopts values and operates in a manner which is more consistent
with business rather than educational objectives. Great improvements
in education could be realized without any additional funds
by simply changing institutional policies and practices.
My opinion is that there is nothing wrong with American students.
Given a good learning environment, a sound curriculum, high
performance standards and competent instruction, there are
many students who are committed, talented, productive and
deserving of a better education than most are receiving. The
problems are with the educational system itself, and the quality
of instruction. It has proven impossible in most situations
for individuals or faculty as a whole to bring about the required
reforms within their institutions. There needs to be a concerted
effort to improve the quality of Graphic Design education.
To accomplish this, there has to be the combined support from
professionals and educators at large. Many teachers are required
to function under nearly impossible conditions related to
insufficient number of faculty, inadequate space, low operating
budgets and institutional policies that are inhibitive to
achieving educational goals.
Professional
organizations such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts
and International Design Center combined with educational
organizations such as the National Association of Schools
of Art and Design and the Graphic Design Education Association
need to coordinate their efforts with educators toward a few
defined goals. These goals might be considered
as standards requisite for any educational program advertising
itself as providing professional education in Graphic Design.
Despite
working conditions in most schools, productive education al
programs in Graphic Design can still be achieved by qualified
and dedicated faculty. It is my intention to pass on experiences
in teaching Graphic Design over a period of thirty-five years
at a variety of educational institutions. It is hoped that
my observations and experiences might inform or stimulate
other Graphic Design teachers in a manner leading toward general
improvement in the quality of Graphic Design education.
I
have described step by step the evolution of problems from
how they originated to final presentation. My purpose is not
to instruct another teacher in how to do my problems, but
rather to expose the process of how problems evolved with
the hope that it might provide insight for other teachers
to develop their own approach to design pedagogy.
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