Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Chris Killip - one of my all time favourite Brit photographers (subject of a new Phaidon 55 book) teaches photography at Harvard, Professor of Visual Studies based mainly on his credentials as a photographer, going by an interview I read a few years ago. Tim A - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Guy Bennett" <gbennett@lainet.com> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 12:36 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] OT:Photo grad school. > >Guy Bennett wrote: > >>> Though much of this activity is > >> without significance in the "real world," real world values are meaningless > >> in the academy: it is a self-validating system that generally does not > >> recognize non-academic achievement. > > > >Actually, my experience has been precisely the opposite - While I agree > >entirely that virtually no one in the 'real world' gives a rat's behind > >about your academic credentials once you get past your first job, I have > >found that some folks in academia will grant 'equivalence' to certain > >real-world accomplishments when hiring for positions in academia. At > >both Harvard Medical School, where I was briefly the Director of Media > >Affairs and had an academic appointment, and at MIT, where I teach, my > >credentials in the world of journalism are viewed by academics as being > >the equivalent of a doctorate in their world. The bottom line, I > >believe, is that at these particular institutions the academics have > >enough self-confidence to understand that they know what they know, and > >that I know what I know, and what I know is as much of value to students > >as what they know. (Does that make sense:-) ) > >B. D. > > > It definitely does. And your case is a great example of how the "real > world" can and should exist within the rarified world of the academy. From > my experience, however, this is rather exceptional. I've been teaching the > humanities - languages and literature - at the university level for about > 14 years now (first at UCLA and various community colleges in the L.A. area > and, for the last 2-3 years, at Otis College of Art and Design) and have > never seen anyone with less than a PhD given a teaching appointment in that > field. Even in community colleges, a full-time teacher in the humanities > with only a MA is becoming something of an anachronism. > > Guy > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html