A Plea to Art Educators

A bit off-topic, but this would probably be my last blog post mainly fueled by academic requirements. And I know by now you might be thinking "And I should care because...?" 

I hope my readers aspire to get on my level of niceness, really.

The four years I spent on college taught me a lot on the "realities" of the art production industry. That we, as a nation, are still pretty much pushing for, and therefore dominated by, a conservative, conventional, conforming look at art-making (whether it be movies, music, literature, visual arts). 

I'm not sure if I just happened to go to a university where professors frown upon a radical approach on the arts but judging from numerous university film festivals I've gone on (I wrote the draft of this blog while on one, frankly), students are still limited by the traditional boundaries the mainstream imposes.

I'm not saying this is wrong, but it's just so... unprogressive. The same kind of stuff has been fed to us literally for decades and to see the young generation to seemingly continue the trend is just saddening.

And this is not to say it's their fault. I'm going on a limb here, but believe me when I say that this assumption is based from my share of experiences as well: These students are either not pushed to their limits by their educators, or deliberately bound by their teachers themselves to stick to the "good ol' tried-and-tested" look at art-making.

Let me tell you, I've had my fair share of that. 

So anyway, the point of this blog is this: I'm hoping for a day that we teach the youth that there is more to art than kilig, drama, and happiness, that there is more to the minds of the youth than what their schools are giving them credit for. 

And really, we are so much more than being aspirants of 1.0 grades.

It's been a fun four years. Count me in on the jobless pool.