My Contempt for Academic Snobbery


Commentary about the World of Academia
I have arrived at the point within the academic world where my unsavory commentary concerning academic snobbery within the arts is about to be unleashed. But before I begin my discourse, I shall present to you a likewise unsavory joke I had once heard about the hierarchy of academic degrees.

Generally, as the humor goes, there are three basic academic degrees that a great many aspiring college students work toward: The Bachelor of Science, the Master of Science, and the Doctorate. The shortened titles of these degrees, respectively, are referred to as the BS, MS, and PhD.

Thus, when one earns the first-level degree (the BS), he or she has spent thousands of dollars to learn about a lot of Bull S—t; and as one advances to the second-level degree (the MS), he or she has learned More S—t; ultimately, as one climbs to the pinnacle of the degree chain and earns a PhD, one begins to realize all the BS and MS has been Piled High and Deep.

Photography Should Be a Passionate Discipline
The serious photographer should be a passionate photographer. That’s what art is about in a nutshell. Passionate photography is about the liberation of the photographer from artificial rules and constraints that inhibit real artistic creativity. What I learned instead in my photography courses at an art college was indeed all about the rules of photography and how to shoot technically correct photographs by studying the compositional "dos" and "don'ts" as employed in paintings by the Renaissance artists. Leave it to a bunch of Ivy League college professors and other academicians to turn what should have been a practical "hands-on" learning experience, including film developing and printing time in a darkroom, into lecture hall treatises on the historical aspects of medieval art.

I was enrolled in an “emphasis” program that would eventually lead to a Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS) Degree in Photography (a concentrated program of study) in 32 months as opposed to the standard 48 months. But, as with most colleges, one had to study all kinds of “liberal arts” subject matter that had nothing to do with the primary discipline that was hawked by the college’s promotional advertising. The fact is my “emphasis” in professional photography transmuted into about 40% of subjects that were graphic arts and photography unrelated, like the history of ancient civilizations, a survey of the great philosophers, and English compositional writing and classic literature. Clearly, the BPS Degree curriculum that was being offered consisted of only about 60% of the entire program. That meant instead of earning a photography degree in about 19 months, another 13 months of unrelated courses were required to meet the 32 months necessary to graduate from the program. It would have been far more efficient and expedient to offer a 2-year Associate of Professional Studies in Photography degree—with a real emphasis on studying photography topics and concentrating on learning how to become a competent and professional photographer.

Outrageous Tuition Plus Incidental Fees
Ah! But then, you see, the college would not have racked in as much money in tuition fees, unnecessary textbooks, laboratory fees, student fees, and other incidental charges for student ID cards, parking fees, application fees, and—yes—graduation fees. Unfortunately, I learned a little late in the game that I could have completed a professional photography course through a community-sponsored adult education program or a technical arts school in less than a year and have saved a lot of time and thousands of dollars. And that’s exactly what I did. Into my second semester and totally disillusioned with the course curriculum, I dropped out of the college’s BPS program and enrolled in a photography institute in New York City that focused (pardon the pun) on the art of photography period!

No Academic Gobbledygook!
As the old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention!” For amateur and advanced photographers with a solid understanding of the basic principles of photography, I decided to create a comprehensive B&W Film Noir Workshop for those who are interested in working with film, developing their own negatives, and enlarging their own prints for all to see and admire, and all for less than $200 that includes a certification diploma that identifies the graduate as a Certified B&W Film Noir Artist.