As someone who was lucky enough to
receive a formal photography/art education, I have to say that I am a little concerned about the state of photographic/art education that is available for our children. I fear that the lack of funding that most arts programs
receive and the inconsistent exposure to digital technology that some instructors have could potentially doom these programs. For the last 6 years, I have been teaching photography in a school system outside of Washington DC and I am lucky to have had an administrator that supported my vision to integrate digital technology into my program. But, there are many "photo/art educators" out there that either
don't understand the technology or don't believe that is important enough to teach to students on that level. Well, the reality is that we live in a digital world and we need to prepare our children for the world that they will live in whether they are in elementary, middle, high school or college. To deny the relevance of digital technology is pretty naive and we are doing our children a disservice if we don't embrace it ourselves. This doesn't mean that we are any less creative as some "purists" would believe. We just use a different kind of paint brush. Please support you local arts programs with your time, money if you can, and advice. They rely on your help to survive.
Peace,
PP
