Fix the Fox
In the most watched TED Talk of all time, speaker Ken Robinson proposes the bold claim that schools worldwide do not value the importance of the creative arts in their curriculums and art-specific course opportunities (or lack thereof). Robinson says, “Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. Every one. Doesn’t matter where you go. You’d think it would be otherwise, but it isn’t. At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and at the bottom are the arts.”
Robinson’s thought-provoking speech sparks a conversation that we as a nation must have moving forward. We need to consider how our current education system might be stifling the creative spirit in our youth and realize that this creative imagination has the potential to blossom into innovation that could change our world. Contrary to widespread belief, Robinson postulates that people don’t grow creative, they grow out of it, and that our education system is a driving force in this trend.
To consider how this theory holds true in the context of higher-level education, we can examine the availability of fine arts programs in university settings. For the purpose of this article, I will recognize the quality of universities by how they are ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Of the top 30 undergraduate schools in America, only Yale, Columbia, University of California—Los Angeles, Carnegie Melon, and Washington University in St. Louis offer a fine arts program.
As students at one of the only top-ranked universities in the country that also bolsters creativity with an undergraduate fine arts program, it’s important to think to ourselves: how does Wash U fit into this equation? Does Robinson’s theory hold true that the arts are valued at the bottom of the educational totem pole, even with the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts? Do we really see a disparity in the way Wash U administration values and treats art students and the way it treats the students of its general student body?
This past summer, I—a business school student through and through—ventured outside my comfort zone and decided to study abroad in Florence, Italy through a Sam Fox art program in which I took a six-credit drawing studio. During my time in Florence, I gained a strong appreciation for the immense talent one can find within the students of Sam Fox. I also came to realize how rewarding the arts can be when long hours spent drafting, scrapping, and creating turns into a final piece you can be proud of. However, my greatest realization was that being an art student entails some really frustrating moments. Materials are expensive and must be purchased out of pocket. Studio hours are long and I often felt like the credits I was receiving didn’t quite amount to the effort and time I was putting into my work. I often spent over 30-40 hours in studio a week, and that’s not including my art history class, which met for six hours every week. Food was—well we were in Italy, so it was fantastic.
I also began to notice that a habit of my studio peers was complaining about how Sam Fox is run.
Halfway around the world in St. Louis, Sam Fox students struggle with the previously mentioned issues and more—and they certainly don’t have a quaint Italian market full of freshly picked peaches and cherries just around the corner from classes. Nor do they have any source of sustainable, quality food near their classrooms (there’s only so many pre-packaged crackers and squishy grapes one can eat for a daily meal).
In a survey I issued to get feedback on the matter, I asked Wash U students if they felt that Sam Fox students in particular were treated equally and fairly. Of the 51 respondents who indicated they were Sam Fox students, only 23.5 percent agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. 23.5 percent were neutral. 53 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed, which means that over half of responders who are in Sam Fox do not believe they are treated fairly or equally by the Wash U administration.
In comparison, of the 21 non-art students who responded to the survey, 42.9 percent agreed or strongly agreed that Sam Fox students were treated equally and fairly and 33.3 percent were neutral to the statement. That means that while a majority of art students feel that they are not treated equally or fairly, a majority of surveyed non-art students feel that Sam Fox students are treated equally or fairly or are neutral to the question.
Most of the feedback from non-art students described confusion at the purpose of the survey and why questions like this were even being circulated.
On the other hand, much of the feedback from art and architecture majors was nothing but frustration and feelings of being disregarded.
One senior art major responded: “We are incredibly shunned. Why are we in the corner of campus so far from everyone else? Why are our food options terrible and parking so difficult?… B School seems to lead such grand lives compared to us—beautiful buildings, great food, great administration and advising, awesome perks, career opportunities. Art Sci too. Art students feel constantly undervalued and unappreciated and shunned. We pay just as much for our Wash U educations as everyone else!”
A junior architecture major describes the financial burden placed upon Sam Fox students without much assistance from the administration: “Architecture (and art) students spend on average at least three times the amount on supplies that most students do on books. The fact that we aren’t supplied with a printing budget or material budget of any kind makes our major economically inaccessible. Supplies are to us what a textbook is to other students, and quality matters.”
A sophomore art major expressed nothing but frustration with Sam Fox: “I have been very disappointed in the way Sam Fox is run over the past few years and how my education is majorly determined by how much money Wash U decides to give to Sam Fox each year, which is consistently not enough. The way Wash U continues to undervalue its art school has been enough to make me seriously consider transferring.”
According to Wash U’s admissions website, the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts “combines strong studio programs with the resources of one of the nation’s finest university art museums. This environment enables the Sam Fox School to chart innovative directions, create new knowledge, advance the theory and practice of art and architecture, and address social and environmental challenges.” This statement seems to be at odds with the majority of students’ experience.
Just as Wash U and the specific Sam Fox school administration challenges students through rigorous coursework and time-consuming assignments, they both need to make sure that this environment itself has all the necessary components to support these students in their endeavors. If a majority of students within one of Wash U’s schools so clearly feels that there is a disparity between how they are treated and how students in other major programs are treated, then fostering a more supportive environment and advising system for these students shouldn’t just be a future plan, it needs to be a current effort.
Admittedly, many of the Sam Fox school’s problems stem from its separate physical location and poorer funding from alumni endowments than other Wash U schools. While Wash U has already announced future plans to expand the art school and integrate it more with the main campus, in the meantime, there are plenty of simple ways administration can improve Sam Fox to help current students have a better experience and also to acknowledge that these students are being heard right now.
The general consensus of surveyed students on ways that administration can improve its treatment of Sam Fox students includes the following:
- Provide better advising
- Provide better career resources
- Improve the state of old facilities and obtain better equipment
- Recognize how much time actually goes into Sam Fox classes when assigning credits
- Allow Sam Fox students the freedom to pursue second majors or minors or take classes in other schools by being more flexible with scheduling
- Consider exam schedules when creating class times
- Subsidize expensive art supplies or at least try to provide at a reduced price
- Give Sam Fox students at least double the amount of printing money they currently receive (which would be as much as B-School and Engineering students currently receive)
- And, for Connie’s sake, give Sam Fox students a better selection of actual food in Etta’s. The five options of stale, packaged sandwiches and wilted salads are not acceptable when for many students this is the only source of food they can obtain between multiple three hour studios a day.