Well, I think I did make that offer, but I also did say that my strong preference would be for the college education. I spent more time praising the long-term benefits of a college education in relationship to a future which may not include theatre, a distinct possibility. I still firmly believe a college degree in this day and age is better than no college degree, so I am not disputing the value of a college education in and of itself. It’s just the content that’s at issue, and I think with some reform the content can be made far more valuable. -Pop

You said:
“I think the educational system for the arts is always a reflection of the states quo.” “Could it just be that great art isn’t made in school?”

Great art is created only within a context. For instance, the art of the Ramones and Jackson Pollack were both part and parcel of their particular “historical context.” Punk music and action painting could only have been significant at the exact time they happened.

Great art not only disrupts the status quo of the art form but also then becomes seminal in its further development.

The university creates an umbrella within reality; it becomes its own little world. And this is the context in which “great art” needs to be created. I think this happens over and over. Students and their art continually disrupt the status quo of these little worlds beneath the umbrella. Students develop and evolve the character of the university as much, if not more, as teachers do.

All worlds are little worlds with their umbrellas and status quo. This includes say, New York theatre, or American theatre. The university’s promise or hope is that the methods or tools taught or discovered for creating art are transferable or translatable between the different contexts, the different little worlds.

Perhaps Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi presents the best example and metaphor about what I am thinking here. In that case the original puppet play and schoolboys’ farce parodying teachers, translates later into another context, becoming one of the most disruptive and seminal works in modern theatre.

I actually don’t ever remember you giving me that option, as both you and mom said you wanted me to have an undergraduate degree, no matter what I happened to want to get it in.

In a response to all that’s been going on, I guess I’d have to say a things of my own. The first thing, and most important thing, is that I completely agree with everything that’s being said, 100%. Some of it I already know I’ve discussed with my dad, especially on questions regarding what needs to change in theatre for it to survive. As a junior in a BFA program myself, “The Big Lie” is something I see around me everyday, especially since my school is very concerned with how they will launch you into the business. They tell actors every day that other people from this school have made it, this acting teacher has trained so-and-so, do this how I tell you to because that’s how it’s worked for other people, and this is the best way to become an actor. I then look at the business and realize 2 actors I saw on tour doing Shakespeare (of all things) were Spanish or Philosophy majors in college, which tells me my training doesn’t always matter. I then look at the multitude of famous actors who just did a commercial and a modeling company or a talent agent saw them and BAM their career is off, which tells me my degree doesn’t always matter. Then I look (straying from the specific art form, but still interesting) at stand up comedians and rappers, two forms of art which I and many of my non-theatre friends take great joy in, and I realize that there is talented art that is not being taught in school, but is simply being done, and that one hurts the most. I can do and create great art without someone constantly telling me that, from their point of view, my work is for some reason sub-par.

That being said, I should acknowledge that I wouldn’t be able to realize or understand any of these issues without knowledge that I gained from the college theatre setting. And after all, one can truly only break the rules if one knows and understands the rules, so my endeavors to break the status quo will actually be augmented by my training, since I am getting the status quo fed to me by the bucket. Also, I would say that a number of colleges telling their students “you are going to be successful because you went here” is really as much of an ego building thing as any. The acting world would probably be void of many talented artists if the only things ever being fed to them were “you’ll never make it, you’ll never make it.” (Despite that almost already being the case) That little spark of hope I feel is truly what drives all artists, and if all it takes is the reputation of a school telling you “we believe in you” to make you truck on, I believe that’s a necessary evil.

Also, I’d be very interested to see how you guys would react if I said that I think the educational system for the arts is always a reflection of the states quo. I mean, music students go to classes and learn scales and play classical music, but the Ramones played the same 5 chords in every song and are considered great artists. Art students learn point perspective and color balance, but I don’t think Jackson Pollack needed any of that information. Could it just be that great art isn’t made in school?

-Eric

Thanks for commenting. Actually, I made this offer to him – not $75,000, but the cost of his undergraduate education, which comes up to about $35,000 or so. He chose to go to undergraduate school, which I thought was the better choice because, as I say, a college education in and of itself still has value, and the time between 18-22 is not that much time to lose, I think. I am not sure I would encourage him to do graduate school for any other reason other than to get a terminal degree to teach himself. But we have had this conversation. Perhaps, when he reads these comments, he can make his own comments relative to our discussions. -twl

I am in agreement with most of what you have outlined here. Thanks for detailed examination. I have written similarly and often on the same subject on my blog and elsewhere.

http://ratconference.com/blog/?p=51

I signed up to comment on your blog just before you went on hiatus. I remember your son was a guest blogger at the time.

http://www.apoorplayer.net/blog/2007/02/17/guest-blogger/

I can’t remember what I was going to say or why I never got to the comment, but your current post here reminds me in part.

This question may be to personal for a public exploration, so I understand if you decline to answer.

Your son is in university studying theatre. Prior to him going to school, how strongly did you argue this notion with him?

“Take that same $75,000 and 7 years, don’t go to school, and use it as a stake to move to LA or NY to begin finding work and making connections, and what might you have after that? “