To think there should not be degrees in Jewellery and Silversmithing

[Brollyflower]

It's a very valid skill. It has business potential and there are some very skilled and talented jewellery-makers and silversmiths out there. But... a degree in the subject? Seriously, a degree? WHY?

Go on, AIBU?

Pr is it more about personal satisfaction and interest? Or indeed the 'snobbery (your word ) of wanting a degree?

Pr = Or

I just don;'t see your point. How many ways are there to learn such a skilled craft in-depth? I ask that in all seriousness as I don't really know.

Working with tutors to develop design ideas, working with highly skilled people to devlop your own techniques, that is what art college does for you. Seems pretty invaluable to me. I'm sure it's not the only way. I'm sure some people teach themselves.

What do you know about these arts and crafts, brolly?

Pinty -no, tbh I have no idea what sort of degrees Art colleges give out . I know no-one who has been to one. I know people who have studied sciences ,english, politics, medicine, law etc etc. I picked jewellery & silversmithing because I read it this evening on a featured seller the Folksy site and it got me wondering, so I posted here for a pasting .

I don't think silversmithing is actually a new degree - I remember seeing the MA shows at the Royal College of Art 25 years ago (when I was a student of - ahem - graphic design).

And I would think part of a degree like this might be similar to aspects of a Fine Art degree - it's not purely practical, you're pushed to express yourself and maybe go on flights of fancy as a student that you otherwise wouldn't if restrained by the humdrum detail of everyday existence.

Then when you do go into commercial practise, your creativity has been awakened and, ideally, you're better placed to produce stunning work.

We've all seen photos of crazy student fashion shows, I take it?

I am sure a high percentage of people at art college aim to try to make a living in their field. I know a fair few who do.

No, silversmithing is not a new degree at all. Art Colleges have been doing this for donkeys.

Thats just your opinion. Many people would say that degrees are not better, especially in more practical subjects.
Which is precisely why there needs to be choice.

Tbh, I'd venture to say that a silversmith on the etsy site has no more reason to put BAhons after their name than anyone else - it's always naff, imo - doesn't mean the degree's worthless, though.

Look up an art college and browse the sorts of degrees they do. That should give you a good overview.

Headless -was that last comment for me?

OK, so I guess I'm learning more about degrees than I knew previously. I love the idea that doing a degree might involve allowing oneself to go on 'flights of fancy' in expressing oneself. Having done sciences myself and slogged away for hours each week with lectures, tutorials, practical classes and written work, followed by learning large amounts of information for pretty hardcore exams, I guess this has influenced my view of what a degree is. I see it as something pretty academic. Other subjects (including Arts subjects) at the institution I studied at were analagous. It is interesting to learn about other options .

Open up your mind, ScienceHead

YABU.

Do you think degrees have to be in Classics or History only?

What do you think a degree actually is?

I'm just a bit jealous that I'm doing a degree in psychology and not something fun like fine art or silversmithing.

A degree course has a very different structure
to others i.e diplomas, foundation..

I have a degree in fashion/textiles, we had modules in business, art history, couture pattern cutting, photography,and sociology in the 3 years.I know my friends on the 2 year diploma course did not.. The degree course covered a lot more, just as an MA would be even more intensive..

Plus you needed more qualifications to get on the degree course in the first place..

I've been getting quite an insight into brains like yours lately. DS has announced he wants to do A levels in maths, physics and chemistry 'because there's a right answer.'

I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than try and get my head around - < tries to think of some impossible maths concept >
< fails > whatever - whereas he's almost reduced to tears when asked to analyse a piece of poetry, or produce working drawings for his Resistant Materials GCSE project.

I know a young domehead Advanced Maths A level student who says he's just as mystified by his arts student friends' abilities as they are with his.

It's down to your aptitudes and the way your brain works, and I'm sure there are so-called 'heavyweight' degree subjects that in reality could be learned in an apprentice-type environment - accountancy, for example.

How is it that different from medicine? Or dentistry? Both of those are very practical with added necessary bits of academic study.

< Warms to theme >
Actually, I know that some accountants do come up through the 'apprentice' route chartered accountancy firms take on trainees post-GCSE/A-levels, as do large public sector and commercial organisations.

Yet people still study for degrees in Accountancy and Finance, before going on to erm train on the job - what's that all about?

You are impying there's no artistic hope for me and that I'll never be creative, just as my art teacher did when I was 14. Up til that point I loved art... but I could not grasp how to get anything above a D, no matter how hard I tried. Likewise the creative writing element of english language was nearly my downfall, though I could rip apart and analyse texts with the best of them . Poetry is largely lost on me, except the occasioanl thing that moves me unexpectely to tears . Give me a text book over a novel any day. I do still have secret urges to make beautiful things. The most beautiful thing I've yet managed is a baby, and that didn't involve much skill .

That is all, however off topic I feel.

Accountancy as an apprenticeship sounds a fine idea.

Ah now, LRP, having met a few medical students while pregnant and known some at uni, I definitely think medicine should be studied in a more practical way, with less of this letting bright kids do academic stuff for several years before letting them near the scary beast known as a 'patient' that will should be at the heart of the rest of their professional life.

I did a degree in fine art, and at the time couldn't see that it was going to lead to any particular career. Education isn't all about how much we can earn at the end of it, s it? I worked hard, put on exhibitions, wrote my thesis, learnt many practical skills, attended endless lectures, wrote essays, got pissed, etc etc

Sports turf and Golf Course Management is a prefectly valid degree, producing quality sports pitches for cricket, football, etc and the perfect playing surface for high level golf is a highly specialised business.

Yes, but a lot of academic courses have a placement part to the course, my niece had a placement with Damien Hurst, while a friend on my course had one with Paul Smith and went to work with him afterwards.. Its just different ways in...

Sorry Brolly (not a phrase I ever thought would pass my lips as such) - not casting nasturtiums - I actually hugely admire DS (and my DH) for this aspect of themselves.

I certainly don't think of myself as superior to them because I'm more'artistic.'

We need all different types of people to get through life together, and I'm glad there are people out there willing to search for the right answer.

And, as for your lack of success in art, I can only say that my best friend at school regularly got As in her reports, while I got Bs and Cs, purely because she was blonde, simpering and pretty. She couldn't fucking draw! I considered art to be one of my best subjects and could draw rings around the rest of the class. Very dis-heartening.

Think loads of art teachers taught very subjectively when in fact, of course there is no right answer.