Spilled Milk

In my last post, I mentioned how our education system is ultimately a microcosm of our economic systems, and that capitalism has plagued our education with a sharp focus on grade point averages and the horrid question of what’s next?

In this, I think of the art major.

“Stop doodling“, the art major is told when sitting in sophomore year geometry class at the local public high school. He is told that SOHCAHTOA is more important than the doodle in his notebook.

“What’s your plan for after college?”, the art major is asked at the Thanksgiving dinner table, before the stuffing has made its way around to him.

“I hope you can handle the smell of a grease trap”, the art major is told jokingly at the bar by his peers.

“You can always come work for me”, the art major is promised by his neighbor who works at an “asset management” firm.

What about the art major? Who is no less intelligent than his peers. No less kind, no less moral and no less human. Why are they treated as a joke? Apprenticeship seems like a thing of the past, so what’s wrong with trying to grow as an artist and learn from others? In short, it’s because college is expensive, and as a society we hold money in very high regard. Once again, a symptom of our socioeconomic system.

One day, the arts will become important once again. I don’t know when it will be, maybe not in my lifetime. It might even take until the near-end, where we’ve brutalized the planet to an unfixable degree and building generational wealth is a silly idea given the impending future.

Until then, my heart feels for the art major.