Defending the Darkroom in Education

[Mark Sawyer]

By way of introduction, I teach high school photography at a rural public high school in Arizona...

Our principal told me today that the darkroom will be shut down immediately, and only digital photography will be taught. (I was also told in writing that teaching analog photography had "no industrial value" and that teaching it was "unacceptable and lacked professionalism".)

My students are quite upset about it; several were in tears over it. (Hey, what's high school without a little drama?) I have several who are planning on attending college photo programs, and the four closest colleges that have photo programs have analog as a major part of the program. I asked whether I wasn't supposed to prepare students for college, and was told no, I was to prepare them for a trade right out of school.

(BTW, I teach about 80% digital, 20% analog/hybrid.)

I'm trying to come up with some "vocational/trade" reasons to keep the darkroom around as a small part of the program. Any ideas or resources?

[lenser]

Is this short sighted jerk also going to halt the teaching of Gregor Mendel in biology, Shakespeare in literature, Newton in math and physics, Rembrandt in fine arts and Beethovan in music . Drop some names and the foundations they established for their fields and maybe he could have an insight into the fact that the foundations and what offer are the platform for the transitions into the levels of the current world.

[polyglot]

How about "shutting down a critical resource mid-course is unacceptable, lacking professionalism and has no educational value"? And besides, art classes are all about "industrial value" - wtf?

The real question is who has power over the principal? Is there a school board you can go to and explain exactly how this is a poor decision for the students and the reputation of the school?

The only justifications provided are based on shortsightedness so there's no point arguing with them, you need to make it clear to the people who matter exactly why this is a bad decision and not allow the principal to frame the debate in terms of trades and poverty-grade expectations for the students' careers. In other words, you need to make "industrial value" irrelevant because frankly, photography as a craft has basically none any more.

[Kimberly Anderson]

Ask him to shut down the football program. None of those kids will go on to play football 'as a vocation' immediately out of High School.

The pendulum is swinging back and before long there will be photographers getting work if only because they can shoot film. I had a conversation about this very thing today with a commercial photographer here in Utah.

[Mark Sawyer]

I appreciate and agree with the sentiments. The students want to learn it, and I want to teach it. The students buy a few supplies, and the rest I fund out of my pocket, so it doesn't cost the school a dime. It doesn't take anything away from the digital side, and the hybrid work (scanning negatives or old family photos for digital printing) adds a twist the wouldn't learn otherwise.

But it comes down to whether the darkroom offers immediate employment skills after high school. It was sad to hear a principal tell a teacher "your job isn't to prepare students for college." (Direct quote, btw.)

Soooo... are there any job prospects out there that could be improved with a little extra knowledge of the darkroom?

[Kimberly Anderson]

Yes, they can come be my assistants in my own darkroom.

I have taught both HS and University level photography courses. Your principal's intentions are misguided and unfortunately predictable.

IMO the digital workflow and understanding of both exposure and printing is greatly enhanced when one understands the origins and mechanics of traditional silver-based photography.

A good digital print strives to mimic the finest gelatin silver prints. Without an understanding of how to make a fine gelatin silver print most ink-jet printers don't know what they are attempting to make.

These sentiments not only come from me as a photographer and an instructor, but also from many...MANY of the students I have taught in the past. There is a difference between the photographer who has only known the pixel and one who knows the smell of fixer.

Also it's cheaper. Tell him that. It might sway the argument in your direction.

[Richard M. Coda]

This really pisses me off... and I agree with Michael about the stupid sports...

My daughter is an artist (pastels, watercolors, sculpture) and is a senior at a private school here in the Phoenix area. We are very lucky to have an amazing art facility. Every year we take her to the National Portfolio Days... where art school recruiters travel around the country as a group and HS students can bring their work and get feedback. If you are a senior the schools can make you an offer. We first brought her as a sophomore... comments included "how old are you?" "if you were a senior showing me this portfolio we'd offer you a full scholarship right now"... Anyway, last year, since we already knew what they were going to say I "mingled" a little and listened in on what the schools were saying to other students and in other disciplines. In particular I remember this kid showing his digital photographs. They were OK, what you typically see coming out of the art schools these days, but what the recruiter said is etched in my brain... "Have you ever been in a darkroom?" "No." "You will need to have that experience to be considered for our program." "We don't have a darkroom at our school." "You might try looking up some local pros and see if you could apprentice." "Have you ever used a large format camera?" "What's that?" ... The poor kid looked like he wanted to cry. Made me sad. Also made me thankful that I grew up when I did...

[Kirk Gittings]

This guy is probably (maybe) not just a narrow minded ahole. This is major debate in most schools and the tsunami of pressure is against traditional. After canning analoge many schools put it back at some level as interest surged and now the pressure is on again to dump it for good.

[Mark Stahlke]

Does the high school teach chemistry? Perhaps you could present the darkroom work as applied chemistry.

[DanK]

Doesn't HABS/HAER/HALS still require large format film based images? Requiring traditional darkroom techniques and experience...

Might be an angle...

[Mark Sawyer]

The thing that's eating at me is that I'm not accused of not teaching the required digital component, but that I'm teaching forbidden knowledge beyond that. The students want to learn it, I want to teach it, but it's not allowed. Bureaucratic book-burning...

BTW, our principal is new to the school this year, and many teachers are looking for work elsewhere. Our physics teacher already left, so physics students have to finish the year online, and the agriculture teacher left last week, which is a big deal in a rural farming community. I must admit, I'm looking myself, which is sad for the kids...

[Mark Sawyer]

Sorry about getting negative, but this is bringing me down. I really do want to articulate some positive, practical reasons to keep the darkroom going for the kids who want to learn from it...

[akfreak]

Give Me his address. I will have a nice talk with him. When I am done they will expand the darkroom and he will invest in Kodak!

[argos33]

Mark,
What about explaining the value of the hybrid workflow? You could explain that students shooting MF/LF film and scanning can get file sizes equivalent or better than many DSLRS, which a student could have a hard time affording. You could talk about how some pros and many artists are still using film and scanning for a digital workflow, which offers extremely good value compared to high end DSLRs, MFDBs, etc. If the students are working for said professionals or artists, wouldn't it benefit them to know film processing and/or scanning?

Maybe you could also talk about how when students are first learning photography all the features of a modern DSLR can be really confusing and distracting to a student who is just trying to understand the basics. As mentioned earlier maybe talk about how a basic film camera with B&W film is a great platform for them to learn on, and then go on and understand how the digital camera uses the same concepts only taking it further.

Seems pretty stupid that they want to do away with it even though it's not costing them anything. Could you maybe turn it into an after-school activity or club or something?

Evan

[Doremus Scudder]

Mark,

Sorry to hear this. I think the most disturbing part is the principal's attitude that a high school (or at least your part of it) does not exist to "prepare kids for college." I find that appalling and bordering on the incompetent and negligent.

If you feel like making waves with the school board/superintendent/parents, then this might be the avenue I would approach, i.e., the man is not suited to be leading a high school if he doesn't see higher education as one of the important goals of a high-school education.

On the other hand, and especially if your school board sees things that way too, then you may be putting your job on the line...

Some random ideas:

Analog photography as part of the art curriculum (it is largely an art photography medium now, and might fit in there).

Film developing and printing as part of the science curriculum (chemistry/physics/optics).

Ditch the printing, but keep the film developing, emphasizing hybrid work-flow.

Confine the strictly curricular teaching to digital, but start a school photo club that concentrated on analog photography and which meets after class hours.

Moving completely out of the school and expanding to a community center or something and then including others interested in analog (adults, seniors, etc.) might be a possibility as well.

But, I imagine you've thought of these things too.

I wish you the best of luck,

Doremus

[Sevo]

ld no, I was to prepare them for a trade right out of school.


Well, time to get the parents into action - they probably will disagree with the principal about his stance that their children should not go to college...

[Frank Petronio]

That's a shame but it's being repeated with the basics, like English, Math, Science, and History throughout Amerika.

Wait, we don't even teach History anymore.

Federal control of public schools is bullshit.

[johnielvis]

OH...you can forget about convincing them...

this is how the government works---they determine what they want to do...then they do it under a pretext---they literally make up a reason--reasonable or not---and that's their story and they stick to it.

you can try to show them a million ways why their wrong and they will look at you and repeat their original line--they will be intractable

I'm pretty sure that this has nothing with preparing for a trade right out of school--that's the PRETEXT...they will stick to that to the very end, no matter even if you show there is a plant down the block that is looking to hire people with this experience. The will look at you and tell you that you are wrong.

Dont' like it? LEAVE

Like having a job? STAY and get with the program....work from within to bring it back or start your own offshoot or night school or something--but don't even try with the government robots---pretext will be repeated forever and will drive you absolutely insane to the point of violence.

it's how they do it.

they are unreasonable and obviously unreasonable--it INTENTIONALLY is to anger you so that you do something to defend yourself---then YOU are the raving lunatic.

don't play--you can't win.

[Scott Davis]

Frank - with all due respect, I don't think this has anything to do with "Federal control" of public schools, which by the way is a straw man. If there were Federal control of public schools, Texas wouldn't be trying to put Intelligent Design into their science textbooks.

[atlcruiser]

I cant really comment on the principal or his motovation. At the end of the day he is hired to make decisions such as this. Maybe you can go above his head?

How about after school elective? Keep the darkroom and have students meet in the afternoons with the parents footing the bill for chemicals, paper etc.... If there is enough support maybe minds can be changed.

Best of luck

[Juergen Sattler]

I think the only chance yo have to convince him otherwise is through the parents. You need to get them agitated enough that they call for a meeting with the principal and fight for their kids education.

[jeroldharter]

Lots of good replies. Nothing to add other than to point out the value of private schools in all aspects of education.

If your principle is new, I suspect that his tasks include cleaning house and revamping the curriculum and the faculty. So I don't think a pissing match of pitting parents against principal will be good for your job security. The arguments about hybrid workflow, limited film education as part of a digital curriculum as being advanced, low cost to the school, etc. are bett arguments in that they might jive with the principals agenda. Plus, maybe the principal needs some non-toxic examples of "compromise" as he goes about his business so it would be a political win for him rather than a low-yield shitstorm.

[Frank Petronio]

Well not so much Federal control as national standards and other "carrots" tied to funding. If you don't meet standards then you don't get the money, and the school systems need their money to pay for all the other mandated programs.

For instance, my sister-in-law teaches AP English in NY. Next year she has to teach teach 70% non-fiction at the expense of literature, so that the school qualifies for a Gates Foundation grant.

While the motivation is well-intentioned, as are the "No Child Left Behind" programs, the implementation and unintended consequences are usually and, at least to me, predictably worse outcomes.

[Bob Wagner]

Michael Garcia at Basha High school in Chandler AZ runs a robust analogue program, he might be of some help. You can google the school name and photography and get contact info.

[Mike Anderson]

...
I'm trying to come up with some "vocational/trade" reasons to keep the darkroom around as a small part of the program. Any ideas or resources?

Photolithography is a fundamental technology used in making computers. Giving students a basic understanding and tangible experience in optical processing can benefit future pursuits in many technical fields. In this video by AMD about making CPUs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQmtITMdas) it's said
the key to this process is a solid mastery of light.

...Mike

[Brian Ellis]

. . .

A good digital print strives to mimic the finest gelatin silver prints. Without an understanding of how to make a fine gelatin silver print most ink-jet printers don't know what they are attempting to make. . . .

Not at all. A good digital print strives to improve on the best gelatin silver prints. The old darkroom silver prints weren't the final word in what can be done in making a print. Far from it. As someone who printed in a darkroom for many years and has now been printing digitally for many years, I can tell you that I look at my old darkroom prints and almost always see ways by which I could improve them by printing digitally using materials and techniques that weren't available or weren't feasible in a darkroom. Anyone who views the purpose of printing digitally as nothing more than duplicating what could be done in a darkroom is taking a very narrow and very limiting view of what can be done by printing digitally.

I can't speak for "most" ink-jet printers (any more than you can). But every serious photographer I know who prints digitally certainly knows what he or she is attempting to make.

I do think it's a shame when schools close down their darkrooms. But Mark's principal isn't necessarily a "narrow minded ahole." He just takes a different view of the purpose of teaching photography than Mark does and than most here do. He's thinking of it as a vocation, a job, rather than as an art form. That's a very normal dichotomy in photography education - there's schools that teach "commercial" photography and there's schools that teach photography as an art form and there isn't a lot of overlap in my experience. It's a pretty distinct difference in the fundamental purpose of different photography programs.

Unfortunately when it comes down to a competition for money and space between art and vocation the vocational people will win more often than not. The best (most elaborate, most expensive) equipment and facilities for teaching photography I've ever seen were at Daytona Beach Community College in Florida. They put the facilities at the art department of the large State university where I taught to shame. And I was told that the reason they could pay for it all was that "vocational" programs were eligible for extensive State and federal funding that wasn't available to university art programs.

If the principal at Mark's school is like the people who made decisions at the university where I taught, I'd approach it on a financial basis. Pick a favorable period of maybe three years or five years (not just one year). Compare the cost of buying computers, upgrading software, paying the tech people, etc. with the cost of the darkroom (try to minimize the fact that much of the digital stuff would be bought even without the photography uses).

Hopefully the costs of the darkroom compare favorably. Then if feasible and relevant, offer to reduce the space taken up by the darkroom, compromise a little if possible - give up some of the space if the digital people or others are after it - but not all of it. And finally, try to get the principal to consider the view that the sole value of education in general and a darkroom in particular isn't in preparing a student for a specific job. Which is certainly not an easy thing to do at this time. But if it can't be done it's going to be hard to justify a darkroom because a darkroom certainly isn't a source of specific job training today.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I'm so glad that my 3 boys were home schooled! They have all graduated from major 4 year universities with honors. The education system in this country sucks! I think the comment about not preparing them for college needs to be addressed with the parents and students. Have the students get involved and protest. Petition the school board to replace the principal. You have to play politics or unfortunately get out of the F'd Up system. Sad state but it is only about numbers and funding, not about the kids anymore. If you want your kids to be successful you will have to tell them that it is up to them to change things. They need to refuse to go along! After all the principal said they are not going to college, right!!

[Brian C. Miller]

(BTW, I teach about 80% digital, 20% analog/hybrid.)

I'm trying to come up with some "vocational/trade" reasons to keep the darkroom around as a small part of the program. Any ideas or resources?

This really doesn't seem to be about vocation, it seems to be about reclaiming the space used by the darkroom. How big is it, and what purpose will the space serve after being decommissioned from being a darkroom?

The program is 80% digital now, so the school already has the computers, etc., for the digital workflow. This part is a red herring.

The part that isn't a red herring is that a high school strictly produces workers ready for basic manual labor. Uh, hello? People who only have a high school education usually don't have much of an upwardly-mobile future. The main light bulb that should go off in the parent's heads is that this principal doesn't care about their children's future, or that he wants to consign them to a future of low wages.

If this principal really cares about the student's future, then business courses should be a requirement. How to open and run a small business, etc. Entrepreneurship is the greatest building block of this country.

BTW, take a look in the Lounge about photographer's wages. A $13/hr job isn't much, and basic digital photography won't be a reason to advance further. For a person to earn a higher wage, there has to be some kind of value-added proposition.

[Emil Schildt]

By way of introduction, I teach high school photography at a rural public high school in Arizona...

Our principal told me today that the darkroom will be shut down immediately, and only digital photography will be taught. (I was also told in writing that teaching analog photography had "no industrial value" and that teaching it was "unacceptable and lacked professionalism".)

My students are quite upset about it; several were in tears over it. (Hey, what's high school without a little drama?) I have several who are planning on attending college photo programs, and the four closest colleges that have photo programs have analog as a major part of the program. I asked whether I wasn't supposed to prepare students for college, and was told no, I was to prepare them for a trade right out of school.

(BTW, I teach about 80% digital, 20% analog/hybrid.)

I'm trying to come up with some "vocational/trade" reasons to keep the darkroom around as a small part of the program. Any ideas or resources?

Mark.
I am sorry to hear this.

But I get confused, or the new headmaster is the same...

If he wants you to train the students for work - and your analouge teaching is a merely 20%, then I'd try to explain to him, that the analouge photography is essential - or at least very helpful for the students if they want a job!

It is all about tools. Why take away important tools for a job?
I have taught analouge techniques at highly modern (all digital) commercial photographer teams. Because they wanted it!

Fashion/commercial photography is about finding unique ways of displaying products, and in the analouge world (or at least in the hybrid one) you can make images which would be impossible in the digital world.

I know of photographers that use wet plate for fashion...

"Everybody" can make digital images - not so analouge.

Your claim could be closing down the analouge department will lessen the chances for the students to get jobs. The more they know - the better "equipped" they are.

:::::::::
the world is strange... here I thought everything was possible in the States..
We have here in DK a government department which takes care of health and safety issues for workers.
They have been here, and tried to close down our analouge department - but didn't know what headmaster I have.... She scared them away! :D

[johnielvis]

I'd check the next years budget---if it's approved, then you'll see what ANY sort of convincing will get you---absolutely nowhere.

if there's no darkroom in there, forget it.

anyways--just drop the issue--if you utilize any school time working on something that is NOT authorized (like finding justifications to keep something that is now proven to be useless), then THAT will be used as proof positive that YOU are not doing YOUR job.....

the people that put the new boss there did it for a reason--perhaps to poke the staff and see what angers them....then the angry people waste their time on what they are NOT supposed to be working on...then this is a justification to fire them and hire someone that you "had in mind" for the job...or that the school board had in mind

you don't think the new boss has friends with sons or daughters just out of art school that need a job?

You keep with the "old and useless" technology and YOU will then be proven to be as old and useless that the technology you defend has proven to be to them.

This makes you NOT qualified for your job.

check the budget--see what theyhave in mind...

I'd go with the flow and not waste any school resources going AGAINST the school.

chicago just went through and re-classified all the teachers here--art teachers in particular--the jobs got re-classified and the people that had the jobs suddently found themselves NOT qualified to do the same work.

You wanna be "not qualified" to teach because you want to teach "proven useless old technology"?

drop it...don't listen to anybody here telling you to defend anything--you think any of the cheap a@@es here is gonna give one penny to get you a new sleeping bag cause you're homeless in winter , you gotta nother think coming....

they WILL help you out by taking your prime equpment off your hands so you can eat for a week....of course..pennies on the dollar, cause you're desparate.

[gevalia]

By way of introduction, I teach high school photography at a rural public high school in Arizona...

Our principal told me today that the darkroom will be shut down immediately, and only digital photography will be taught. (I was also told in writing that teaching analog photography had "no industrial value" and that teaching it was "unacceptable and lacked professionalism".)

My students are quite upset about it; several were in tears over it. (Hey, what's high school without a little drama?) I have several who are planning on attending college photo programs, and the four closest colleges that have photo programs have analog as a major part of the program. I asked whether I wasn't supposed to prepare students for college, and was told no, I was to prepare them for a trade right out of school.

(BTW, I teach about 80% digital, 20% analog/hybrid.)

I'm trying to come up with some "vocational/trade" reasons to keep the darkroom around as a small part of the program. Any ideas or resources?

I say find a few well-known film photographers to come into the school an do presentations to the whole school body. Have the local media come in and get the events on the news. And then approach the principal again on the subject after that media coverage is fresh in his mind. I'm sure there are a few on this board that would love helping on this. Just out-flank the guy. He may even end up taking credit for everything.

[Mark Sawyer]

Thanks, all, for the support. Wish I had more time to respond, but I'm at school... A few quick clarifications:

Our new principal is a she, not a he.

I'm getting some good ideas and feedback from you, so thank you!

[goamules]

Just read this Mark, this really is a Mr. Holland's Opus story isn't it? Years of your success, getting your student's soft focus work published in national magazines, etc...all mean nothing to this new "administrator?" Your students have won competitions for film/wetplate. They are learning about an important niche market.

I would write a white paper, very respectfully outlining the benefits of your analog curriculum. I would ask her to read and digest it, and then get back to you. I would also include several other higher ups in the email. You can send it to the District Super for example. That way, there has to be a dialog, and she can't just round file it.

Benefits of anolog curriculum:

- Allow real world experience with chemistry and industrial processes
- Prepare students for manufacturing, or other process-based careers
- Prepare students for a career in fine arts
- Teach students the critical skills of invention and creativity
- Allow using or making custom lenses - rather than just buying what the industrial digital industry provides)
- Foster a flexible mindset and problem solving
- Increase troubleshooting skills
- etc., etc.....

These can be sync'd up with standard AZ benchmark/testing type of objectives, I'd bet. The point is, your students will be more well rounded, technically capable, and engaged with life, than the standard curriculum. At no more cost.

Does she also want to kill all the clubs, sports, chorus? Do other classes have components that are not "on the list" for the test, test, overtest requirements? Does a science class that focuses on model rocketry really have "industrial value"? Or does it create those intangibles I talk about above? Innovation, broad systems understanding, technical practice, chemistry, optics, etc....

Good luck,

[Kimberly Anderson]

As someone who printed in a darkroom for many years and has now been printing digitally for many years, I can tell you that I look at my old darkroom prints and almost always see ways by which I could improve them by printing digitally using materials and techniques that weren't available or weren't feasible in a darkroom. Anyone who views the purpose of printing digitally as nothing more than duplicating what could be done in a darkroom is taking a very narrow and very limiting view of what can be done by printing digitally.

My point is that since you have years of experience in the darkroom, you have a baseline of what a good print looks like that you can then use as a measure to judge your digital prints against.

If someone comes straight into digital printing there is no baseline.

[cyrus]

Tell him you can't really understand digital photography without a basic understanding in analog photography. And tell him that the term "photography" consists of a variety of processes, some of them of great social and historical significance, Tell him that nothing digital has really completely supplanted analog - that's why he still has real, actual books in the library instead of just internet-connected computers.

[Richard M. Coda]

Mark. I did exactly what Ron Miller suggested a couple of years ago at my daughter's school. I was invited to hang an exhibition for a month and give a walking tour one day and come back to give a class room talk to the advanced photo students.

http://rcodaphotography.blogspot.com/2009/12/pictures-from-exhibition-2.html

I'd be happy to come down to Tucson to bring some work and talk! Make sure you invite your principal! ;)

You may also want to contact Becky Senf, the acting Senior Curator at CCP at UA. http://www.infocus-phxart.org/emails/InFocus_Senf_071411.html She is also our Norton Family Curator at the PHX Art Museum and on the Board of InFocus (http://www.infocus-phxart.org), as am I.

[KEK]

If your school districts finances are anything like mine I'd say your new principle is doing a nice job of moving out the higher priced teachers. I'll bet any new hire is a wet behind the ears recent graduate and your school will suffer from the lack of experience.

[Drew Wiley]

Yeah sound like a hatchet job. Watch your back. But in terms of the relevance of a
vocational background in traditional darkroom, it works something like this in the real
world, at least around here. People who can shoot digital and do digital comp are dime
a dozen. Yeah you need to know this stuff. But any graduate is not going to stand out
in the crowd and will most likely have a long uphill battle. Someone who displays a range of skills and versatility, however, is going to get to the head of the pack a lot quicker. Sure worked that way with some young folk I know. Learn both.

[Michael E]

Our principal told me today that the darkroom will be shut down immediately, and only digital photography will be taught. (I was also told in writing that teaching analog photography had "no industrial value" and that teaching it was "unacceptable and lacked professionalism".)

Obviously, she has issues with authority. She is new and has to prove she is in charge. Cancelling a program without talking to the involved teachers is just bad style. Using questionable arguments doesn't make it any better. Maybe you can sit down and talk about it. Tell her in person why you consider it necessary to teach some analog photography and darkroom skills.

I always thought high school was supposed to give kids access to skills or knowledge they wouldn't gain otherwise. Gaining broad knowledge gives the students a better foundation for the major decisions they are going to face. The things that helped me most in later life are not the ones considered "of industrial value" in school.

A short introduction into analog photography has a lot of benefits for the students at basically no cost for the school. Except for that, I think we all agree on the tremendous benefits that digital photography has for teaching kids. Why does it alsways have to be one or the other?

Michael

[MDR]

Just had a nice chat with a friend of mine who works as an architecture photographers and still uses classic LF film. She told me that she would never employ an assistant without darkroom knowledge or at least interest in darkroom work and she is not the only one. Darkroom work is still required in a few specialist photographic field and it's easier to get a job in a niche than a job everybody can do.

Maybe you can tell her that the governement still uses microfilm for long term archival storage of important documents even digital ones (at least in Germany and Austria) and without skilled darkroom workers and film restorers her pension and social security informations might be in jeopardy or disappear in the future just like the darkroom classes :D

[Andrew O'Neill]

The students want to learn it, and I want to teach it.

Then teach it then. Don't art teachers in your country have autonomy in the classroom to a certain degree as long as your are meeting the prescribed learning outcomes?... not sure how it works down there, mind you. By the way, principals come and go up here. She wouldn't last 5 minutes in my school.

[Greg Miller]

My point is that since you have years of experience in the darkroom, you have a baseline of what a good print looks like that you can then use as a measure to judge your digital prints against.

If someone comes straight into digital printing there is no baseline.

These are school kids who (most likely) have no baseline with any printing, darkroom or digital. The baseline that they will have will be whatever good prints the instructor shows them.

[Mark Sawyer]

Thanks again all. It's a mess, and I don't see a solution. Another teacher was recently told "you are an employee and will do as your told or be dismissed", and I guess that's education in the 21st century. Teachers only have such autonomy as is allowed by their administration, and at our school, that's none.

I was set to retire in a year-and-a-half anyways, so I'm just trying to hang on while I look for something else. But there's not much out there right now, and I'll be sad to leave my students if I go. Such is life...

[Daniel Stone]

Try inviting the principal to watch and participate in some darkroom printing. I'm assuming you have an enlarger or two(maybe more). Give her some negatives and a box of paper. Give her some tips to getting started, and let her have some fun(hopefully she'd see it way). You might sway her on the pretext that it's "fun" and scientific at the same time.

She's probably just trying to look productive to the school board by cutting "excessive" programs. I graduated h/s in 2006, and the woodshop program got axed after my senior year. A very sad day IMO, I loved that class and took it all 4 years. Now there aren't ANY hands-on classes in our school district save a ceramics course. 15 years ago there was a lapidary(rocks and minerals, which also got axed the year after I graduated), wood shop, metal shop, and auto shop all at the high school. Now there's just ceramics. Guess what the #1 product coming out of that class is? Ashtrays and makeshift pipes(yes, for weed). The lapidary program(which is still going through an adult ed program locally, I'm an active participant) taught the kids about chemistry, the elements, along with machinery(even oil saws) for the kids to use. There were a good number of adults that came in to act as shop aids and teachers "assistants", mostly because they just loved the program. Guess what: a new principal came in, and decided that the program wasn't "safe" because of the power equipment(same thing with axing wood shop). Metal shop was canned 10+ years ago b/c some dumb ass student didn't ground his piece to be welded and almost shocked himself to death. His dad sued the school district, and thankfully, since the student was 18, and had signed a waiver(along with the parents), the school won the suit. But still, rather than keep it and teach the virtues of knowing hands-on skills(other than texting ;)), they canned the program all together... Auto shop was canned b/c kids were stealing and re-selling parts. Sad, but true. Again, could have been kept if they invested in a lock cabinet with a deadbolt.

I'd put a periodic table up on the wall of the darkroom, just to "reinforce" the point ;).

-Dan

[Corran]

As much as I hate to say it, the principal has the power and you might have to just let it go. Try convincing him/her to keep the program till the end of the year at least though.

More teachers have been fired or simply left due to conflicts with administrators than anything. And frankly, since your real name is posted here along with this issue, the principal / school board could very well take umbrage with your complaint (however civilly you might make it) on a public forum if they found out. I know a teacher who was fired over an almost inconsequential paperwork thing and despite appealing to the Board of Regents, etc. was still fired and can not get work now.

This is one of the reasons I decided not to get into public school teaching despite having a teaching certificate and degree.

[Mark Sawyer]

True, Bryan. One of the sadder things about being a teacher today is hearing how many of my collegues wish they'd done something else, and wondering if I feel the same...

Dan, an excellent idea. I may try to get her down, or better yet, have the kids invite her down. If nothing else, she may as well see the program she's dismantling.

[goamules]

Isn't it interesting that at the national level, all the old industrial/vocational programs are eliminated? Woodshop, Automobile repair, Analog photography, lapidary, rocketry, on and on.

Assumption - We no longer have industries.

And nationally we are eliminating all the liberal arts classes; Art, Chorus, drama, band/music.

Assumption - No one is interested in art.

Most competitive shooting and hunting clubs are long gone, ROTC is looked at next to be eliminated.

Assumption - hunting and martial arts are primitive, violent skills that won't be needed in the future.

So what are we left with? The three R's. And a sulky, disillusioned generation of young adults who's only release is playing video games or sitting on facebook and texting for most of each day. Great.

I live in a neighboring Arizona school district that is the best in the state, but all the above is happening there too. My daughter, a senior, said yesterday, "I hope they don't cut chorus and drama and all next year (which is likely if a new tax isn't passed), because that's the most important part of High School." Her younger sister starts High School next year.

[David R Munson]

The shortsightedness and total lack of understanding exhibited by the people making these decisions is astounding. When will the nation begin understand just how important education really is? Losing liberal arts classes strikes me as a very unfortunate symptom of a much larger problem, and I fear things are going to get notably worse before they get much better.

[Mark Sawyer]

A point that should be made: much of this is coming down from the Arizona Department of Education, where anonymous "Industry Professionals" decide what students are to learn. Our states DOE has stated openly that CTE classes are to prepare students for employment right out of high school, not prepare them for college.

I strongly suspect my career as a photography teacher is coming to a close.

[Brian C. Miller]

OK, so the principal is only enforcing what has been handed down, nothing more or less.

I went to a college which had text books written by "professionals." I found material plagiarized from Microsoft help files and the web.

[Drew Wiley]

Garrett - gotta disagree with you a bit. The three R's aren't being left intact either.
This will probably be the most illiterate generation in American history (which doesn't
seem to be on the list either anymore).

[MDR]

Sorry as a non english speaking member I have to ask what the RRR means

Thanks Dominik

[Mike Anderson]

Sorry as a non english speaking member I have to ask what the RRR means

Thanks Dominik

Readin'
[w]Ritin'
[a]Rithmaticin'

...Mike

[KEK]

Mark I don't know what CTE stands for but I'm guessing It's something like what I used to call Industrial arts. I kinda have to agree with your DOE. With the high price of college these days kids walking out high school with no intention or means to go any further with there education need some skills they can market. I think the professional photographers that say they wouldn't hire an assistant that didn't have film experience would be in the minority these days.
I do think that teaching kids about film is important(we still teach history) but if it comes down to a budget issue I don't know what to tell you. Budget cuts are pretty rampant in your state like everywhere I would guess. One of my kids is at ASU in the second year of a 5 year doctorate program(all funding in place) and he found out they cut all the courses he would be taking the last 2 years of the program, so he can shift his focus of study or at the end of this year he'll be out there applying to schools and trying to hustle up the funding to finish.
I don't know if you still have an art dept. at your school but I meet a local high school teacher a few years ago and he had been teaching 100% digital but had convinced the administration that they needed to bring film back and the classes are always full. These classes weren't in the industrial arts program they were an art elective so maybe that was an easier sell.

[jp]

I'd suggest letting the parents get mad rather than you if staying employed is important.

Another unmentioned use of darkroom tech is processing x-ray material. That's gone digital in many places, but there are still many chiropractors, doctors and dentists offices using film.

If the principal doesn't trust the students, it could be worth bs'ing that using film for part of the work is an important aspect of evaluating their photo skills, because they produce original unaltered material that's not doctored or repaired with the computer prior to submission.

Maine normally has a shortage of teachers, especially in math/science. Probably not in art though.

[johnielvis]

I'd grab the equipment if they let you "dispose" of it and rent a storefront--start your OWN school---

[Mark Sawyer]

CTE is "Career and Technical Education". They currently have no standards for curriculum, as it is "under development" with no scheduled release date. The most recent standards are here:

http://www.azed.gov/wp-content/uploads/PDF/GraphicCommunicationsOptionCPhotoImaging.pdf

Note that standard 33 is all about "traditional photography" and the darkroom.

Bear in mind that around 80% of my students are enrolled for their Fine Arts requirement, not for CTE credit.

Also, I want to stress that I do teach all the CTE standards, and the course is already mostly digital. We do a little "darkroom sampling" in the four beginning classes. In my Advanced classes, we do more digital, but also explore analog photography, including alternative processes, large format, and the infamous 99-cent lenses. That will all go away.

[bob carnie]

Actually a very good point, We have been approached by some schools to open our darkrooms to grad students from different colleges and university's in the area, We are in the process of working out the pros and cons of such an idea.



I'd grab the equipment if they let you "dispose" of it and rent a storefront--start your OWN school---

[Michael E]

Actually a very good point, We have been approached by some schools to open our darkrooms to grad students from different colleges and university's in the area, We are in the process of working out the pros and cons of such an idea.

Getting rid of the existing facilities and ending up paying rent for the same thing? Where have I heard that before? Too many government decisions seem to work that way.

Michael

[bob carnie]

The one thing I keep hearing is the issues with plumbing, chemicals and overhead , to keep a wet room open, In my business those issues are are part of my daily life, also there are not a lot of teachers currently able to teach the wet side on full time payroll.

The trick for me is getting enough schools to buy into this idea so I can dedicate one room for grad students, equipment is not a problem.


Getting rid of the existing facilities and ending up paying rent for the same thing? Where have I heard that before? Too many government decisions seem to work that way.

Michael

[Alan Gales]

If you are not preparing your students for college then you can skip teaching all the math courses too. McDonalds has pictures of the food on their cash registers instead of numbers.

[Drew Wiley]

But at least McDonalds is matched to the real world. If you're too fat to move, it should be absolutely ideal for the matching skills of playing computer games and
futzing around on PS, since you don't need to move your lard ass very far to do it.
And it will create lots of new jobs, since childhood diabetes and heart disease will
kill off the next generation at a steady pace. But if I was hiring a twenty-something assistant or looking for someone in an adv agency graphics dept, and they didn't know what to do with a sheet of film, well, it would be back to McDonalds or Starbucks for
them. And the odds are, if someone comes out of an old-school vocational shop or repair program in HS or JC, they're going to have way better odds of getting a job which actually pays then the thirty jillion kids who are techie wannabees. They obviously show in this part of the world a lot, and quite a few end up in the computer
"Chips of Wrath" syndrome, del pizzas if they're lucky.

[Bill Burk]

CTE is "Career and Technical Education".
http://www.azed.gov/wp-content/uploads/PDF/GraphicCommunicationsOptionCPhotoImaging.pdf

That's "Print Shop." Did funding for art fizzle leaving photography under the CTE umbrella?

If I had to stay within CTE standards, I would consider teaching a course on "the business of photography." That would literally help students have a successful life once they get out on their own. There's at least three sections in the CTE outline that relate to business.

The picture leans dramatically in darkroom's favor if you are teaching art. "Culturally," "It is important" to maintain a darkroom for Visual Arts. Still, if the darkroom is to be dismantled, ask administration to consider letting you carefully pack away a time capsule of serviceable darkroom equipment and supplies. Then a future art student who chooses traditional photographic art as his or her medium will have something to work with.

http://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/files/2011/09/visualarts.pdf
---
Strand 1: Create
---
Concept 2: Materials, Tools and Techniques
PO 301. Identify and experiment with materials, tools, and techniques appropriately and expressively in his or her own artwork.

PO 302. Demonstrate purposeful use of a range of materials, tools, and techniques in his or her own artwork.
---
Strand 2: Relate
---
Concept 1: Artworlds
PO 305. Make connections between art and other curricular areas (e.g., clay production relates to science, contextual information relates to social studies).

Concept 2: Materials, Tools, and Techniques
PO 302. Describe and analyze what tools, materials, and techniques were used to create artwork from diverse cultures and times.

PO 303. Describe how scientific and technological advances influence the materials, tools, and techniques used by artists.

---
Strand 3: Evaluate
---
Concept 2: Materials, Tools, and Techniques
PO 301. Analyze how an artist’s use of tools and techniques affect an artwork’s meaning, purpose, and value.

PO 302. Evaluate how an artist’s level of craftsmanship affects the value of an artwork.

Concept 5: Quality
PO 301. Understand how the difference in quality between an original and a reproduction affects the viewer’s interpretation of an artwork (e.g., make a museum/artist’s studio visit to compare details, size, luminosity, three dimensionality, surface texture).

PO 302. Distinguish art preferences “I like it because...” from art judgments “It is good because…” from cultural judgments “It is important because. ..”.

[h2oman]

First of all, I'd like to say I'm sorry about your predicament, Mark. It is unfair and unfortunate.

I'm no expert on K-12 education, but I did teach at a high school fo five years. There are a lot of insecure people out there, and if not dealt with in a way that doesn't threaten them, they can make your life difficult. Think, for a moment, about custodians. They know they are poorly paid and often not respected. I learned early on that if I learned their names and talked to them, they'd clean my room well and do almost anything I asked. Same with the secretaries. A little empathy goes a long way.

So now let's think about this principal. She's new, she's female, and maybe young? I would say at least part of her stance might be caused by her being insecure or feeling threatened (not by you in particular, but by her position). A beginning teacher is sometimes told "Don't smile until Christmas" - the principal may just be enacting their version of this. It's unfortunate that you (and your students) have to bear the brunt of it. But what is not going to work is threats or confrontation - even rational argument may not do it! I'm not saying this for you, Mark, but for many others who've posted comments with somewhat inflammatory overtones.

If you had more time before retiring, I'd say store the darkroom stuff and wait for this all to blow over. I'd guess that eventually this principal is going to rankle students, parents and/or board members, given your description of her behavior. I'd bet she'll either tone it down or be gone in a few years or less. But given that you are a "short-timer," you don't have time to wait it out.

There's no good answer as to what to do, but your approach of attempting to validate your program is as good as any. The suggestions leaning toward getting her to come over to your side are also good. Do you have any former students who could write letters to the principal and/or board in support of the traditional part of the curriculum? The key will be to do whatever you do in a way that the principal won't see this as a power struggle and a threat to her authority.

Good luck. :(

[goamules]

Mark, another option might be to check around the other schools in Tucson and the East side where I am. There could very well be a school that has taken the opposite tack, and is embracing analog photography. Like your school used to. You might be able to jump ship and finish the last couple years in style.

To those that suggested you try to "get the equipment" when they shutdown, you should know it's mostly Mark's equipment anyway. He's given his all to that program over the years, and the students I've met are very enthusiastic about film, wetplate, everything.

[SamReeves]

Can't learn unless you get your hands dirty.

I say give the principal a nice morning steamer from the dog.

[John Kasaian]

My stupid question for the day: Has the pricipal ever messed around in a dark room?
If she knows what goes on and can see your student's enthusiasm that might help your position.
Of course if it's a matter of budget, I'm afraid your program may go the way of marching bands :(

[BetterSense]

It must be the case that the darkroom equipment is entirely paid off by now. In that case only consumables are the ongoing expense. I would imagine even with today's high prices this has to be comparable or less than the cost of equipping and depreciating quality digital lab equipment and software.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Mark,

Sorry about your luck, I'd be thinking about a community darkroom or Sunday school, you could ask the local churches or 4H. Insurance concerns about minors and chemicals will make this harder than you might think.

"Our principal told me today that the darkroom will be shut down immediately, and only digital photography will be taught. (I was also told in writing that teaching analog photography had "no industrial value" and that teaching it was "unacceptable and lacked professionalism".)"

Sounds like that is why she was hired, 'a new broom sweeps clean'.
Budget problems or a new need for the space, either way the darkroom is lost.

Good luck with it.

[Mark Sawyer]

I don't know. She's telling me that the darkroom is to be closed as soon as current projects are finished, and no new projects are to be started. Then the students told me she's telling them the darkroom will stay open. I don't know...

[Uri A]

Call the local press, don your gasmasks and ... Occupy!

[Mark Sawyer]

Well, the darkroom is dismanteled and gone, along with all alt-processes. It's purely digital now, not allowed to even talk about the darkroom. Oh, well...

[Kimberly Anderson]

I want to swear...

[Bill Burk]

Sorry to hear that Mark, but this sounds like you are still there...

My darkroom recently had an unexpected shutdown. But only temporary.

I'll raise a toast to you when I crack the tape on the carton of fix I just brought home.

[Greg Blank]

FWIW - You have my written support here:

Its just business as usual the way I see it. Our unimaginative society breeding future unimaginative leadership that sees no benefit to dreaming or concieving new ideas. Then they complain if the can, when they can't figure out how to resolve the big picture problems & questions. Like feeding, clothing and keeping mentally ill people off the street -or figuring out how to & lacking imagination to repair a device that was of benefit prior to its no working status- a wasteful approach from an unimaginative society-how unique. Without imagination, few inventions would exist, the ability to create, construct, conceive are the teachings that the schools system in America seriously lacks and has for the last forty years. Individual teachers may convey these things but the school system as a whole has a 50/50 success rate at best- far from sterling.

Generaly speaking there is way too much importance placed upon sports in our society & the value of professional sports. Excercise is important. But "REALLY" professional athletes, come one,....how many problems can they solve beyond fund raising -if they do that. Doesn't it make anyone truely mad that a professional athlete with a seventh grade mind can make ten million for sitting on a bench- or that your tax dollars went into and paid for getting that fool on to the bench as the end result. There should be NO interschoollastic competition with regard to sports - none. Then there would be enough money for LEARNING.

Is it any wonder then that some of the lowest elements of our preditory society gravitate to the sports training jobs.

[Joe Forks]

Very Sad Mark, my condolences.

[Fred L]

Digital specific training is not exactly far sighted and could be seen as short term as some digital post production (think I recall some news agencies etc) is sent overseas. I also believe losing technical/ manufacturing bases is going to accelerate the end of Western dominance. ymmv

[Mark Sawyer]

Thanks for the condolences, everyone. Sadly, the deal was decided long before I knew it was going down. It was just another part of a new principal deciding to remake the campus in her own image.

I gave her a letter directing her to the Arizona Highways submission page (we're in Arizona), specifying they "prefer large format film." I cited Andeas Gursky's recent $4 million dollar auction for a print made by hybrid film digital technology, and reminded her we were doing similar hybrid technology work. I documented the Better Light scanning back as an industrial tool, and how it was valuable for students to still learn view camera skills. And of course, I told her of the math, chemistry, and physics students learn in relation to analog work, and the craft and history involved. And that the students wanted to learn about it, and I wanted to teach them.

Her reply was that "darkroom photography has no value," and the darkroom must be immediately dismantled. And so it was.

BTW, my evaluation scores were at the top level in every category last year. This year they are at the lowest or next-to-lowest in every category. My favorite comment on the evaluation was "The teacher does not have adequate knowledge to teach the lesson observed." The lesson observed? The basics of lenses.

I'm working on an exit strategy...

[Greg Blank]

Hey Mark all she would have to do is Google your name and this thread would come up. Just an FYI. But Maybe not. I don't see this thread immediately when Googling but a lot of mine are usually found.

[Brad Rippe]

Mark,
Students can be a very powerful voice. A few years ago a similar unwise decision was made to dump the darkroom in favor of digital workstations at a local high school. Enrollment for the class plummeted, and the students demanded to learn traditional film photography methods! The next year, the darkroom was back, classes were filled to capacity.

At another local high school, the film based photography classes have waiting lists to get in! The "magic" we all describe in developing film and printing seems to be not so magic on a computer screen, according to the students, who thoroughly enjoy the traditional methods, commonly referring to the sense of creativity and tactile quality of film and silver prints.
I hope a protest erupts at your school......
-Brad

[Fred L]

Mark,

That truly is sad and depressing and while she may very well be taking orders from on high, I would think TPTB might appreciate someone who had the temerity to stand up for what is in the best interest of the students. Such administrators don't have long careers when change inevitably happens.


Good luck,

Fred

[BarryS]

She sounds like a dimwitted martinet--unfortunately they're not in short supply. If you were in for the long-haul, I'd suggest banding together to get rid of this life-sucking vampire, but you may want to just grit your teeth and hang-on. With those reviews--it sounds like she's preparing to axe you--so you may have little choice. How about the "School of Rock" solution? Find a way to take the analog classes and darkroom stuff off-campus.

[Drew Wiley]

Dark rooms have less light bulbs on, and therefore save energy (not really, but it's a politically-correct argument). Therefore, building codes should mandate a darkroom in every new home or apartment.

[Mark Sawyer]

Just a note: I retired several years ago after the darkroom was closed. The photo program was about 75% digital by then, but the darkroom still taught a lot of math, science, history, craft, and art. Of the dozen or so high school photo programs in Tucson, none have a darkroom. Progress marches on...

[JMB]

Your principal's intentions are misguided and unfortunately predicable.



The questions raised here are deeply political and only deeply political responses will cast real light on the matter. In the meantime, its very good to hear that counter measures are afoot. Congratulations, e.g., and good luck to the Weston Collective.

[faberryman]

I am surprised you have a photography program at all.

[Jac@stafford.net]

My University darkroom was closed and all equipment auctioned off at scrap prices. I was disappointed because they had one unused extra room with a tall ceiling, proper plumbing and ventilation to take a Saltzman 8x10 enlarger I was going to give them.

One important thing I noticed about the students' work coming out of the darkroom was an indisputable poor quality of their prints. Just terrible. Their opinion was evinced by one student, "Why should I spend so much more time printing an image, getting wet in a dungeon when the digital students do so much more in so little time sitting at a desk."

I add that the chair overseeing the photography division had a terminal degree but had not published a photograph in over twenty years.

[Mark Sawyer]

I learned their opinion evinced by one astute student, "Why should I spend so much more time printing an image, getting wet in a dungeon when the digital students do so much more in so little time sitting at a desk."

Without at least one dedicated faculty member, any area of any university program is likely to falter, along with the students in it.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[...] I'm largely self educated

So am I, but unfortunately I had a bad instructor. :D

[Duolab123]

Anything that gets people to interact with the real world is a good thing. When I was in high school we had an extensive industrial arts department. I took every science course that was offered. Physics, chemistry, botany, geology, marine biology, astronomy, biology. I took metal working, 2 years of auto mechanics, lapidary .

Everything today is on computer. Learning digital photography might help you with computer skills. I think photography as a vocation, digital, analog whatever would be very difficult to make a living today.

[Drew Wiley]

Yep. That's progress. Everybody is going to become a programmer, software engineer, or video gaming designer. Back when I was in high school, the goal was to become a nuclear engineer, in other words, after Three Mile Island, a pizza delivery boy. But if you were a dunce, you were forced to take shop classes, like auto repair, electrical wiring, or woodworking; then you made a decent living. So not much has changed, except that in its infinite wisdom, our educational system has eliminated almost all shop classes. No problem. Self-driving cars are on the way, so it's probably just another hundred years until self-repairing cars show up too.

[Duolab123]

Well said

[Leszek Vogt]

Mark, I'm curious. Was the course considered as a "liability" or the principal took her fresh managerial duty....to higher powers (the board)....finding a program/something to chisel. I get it that none of it would change the history that took place. Hmm, have she eventually voiced the real reason ?

Either way, for her to say that analog photography lacks professionalism (excuse if not quoting correctly)....I truly find her to be totally ignorant of the medium.

Les

[Mark Sawyer]

To be honest, it was just the whim of a bad administrator. During her first year as principal, literally half the faculty left. She had 100% support from the school board and Superintendent. She disappeared overnight near the end of her second year, reappearing later as a Curriculum Designer for another school district, a giant step downward. It had nothing to do with me or the photography program, just the momentary whim of someone in power. Pretty much how reality works, don't try to make sense of it, and don't take it personally...

[Willie]

Does the school offer classes in lettuce picking and agricultural field work?

Seems the attitude of "prepare for jobs, not a life of higher expectations" is self defeating. A trade-tech self limiting approach to getting the kids out without pushing them to improve.

Did she really not think that preparing kids for College was worth it?

[Mark Sawyer]

Does the school offer classes in lettuce picking and agricultural field work?

Seems the attitude of "prepare for jobs, not a life of higher expectations" is self defeating. A trade-tech self limiting approach to getting the kids out without pushing them to improve.

Did she really not think that preparing kids for College was worth it?

Not lettuce-picking, but quite a few vocational programs, like Auto Shop, Welding, Culinary Arts, Multimedia, Agriculture, etc., all promising a professional career without all that expensive college. But even most areas of Universities are vocational, with students often complaining about unnecessary prerequisites like Humanities, Arts, or any Sciences not directly related to their major. The days of Universities developing "educated, well-rounded citizens" are largely gone, and most parents are happy to save the money if the high schools say the kids can just go straight to work...

[goamules]

My son's former girlfriend got a Machining degree of some kind. Never found a job in a machine shop (though we have a huge aerospace mfg company here), so just passed firefighter school. She's going to be a fireman. Automation and offshoring have (or will) removed 85% of the good jobs in America. If you are not a designer/engineer, you can cut grass, be a cop, manage a resturant, tire shop, or other business that has to remain. And they will all be chains, and pay bare minimum.

[David Karp]

My college (a community college) built a brand new darkroom and work area when they built a new building. The film photography program is strong. Classes are full every semester. It coexists with a vibrant digital photography program, which also has full classes. I see students on campus making photographs with film and ask them how they like it. I have not yet heard a student say that they regretted taking one of those courses.

[Duolab123]

My son's former girlfriend got a Machining degree of some kind. Never found a job in a machine shop (though we have a huge aerospace mfg company here), so just passed firefighter school. She's going to be a fireman. Automation and offshoring have (or will) removed 85% of the good jobs in America. If you are not a designer/engineer, you can cut grass, be a cop, manage a resturant, tire shop, or other business that has to remain. And they will all be chains, and pay bare minimum.

Forget Engineering, all the big companies moving tech centers to India. Writing software code is in demand right now, job security forget it. The age thing is critical, the people who are really successful are the 20% that are in the right field, are willing to relocate, repeatably, are beautiful, diverse, and YOUNG. I know so many people that have been sidelined in their late 40's early 50's. The loss of manufacturing in this country is the greatest screw up in history.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I am high school photography teacher. All 9 high schools in my district taught darkroom photography. Now only 3 do. Teachers retired and were replaced by young teachers who knew/know only digital. Even some of the teachers have no formal training in photography... My program is alive and well. I do 90% analogue, 5% digital, 5% hybrid alt (film scan to digital output, film scan to cyanotype or gum)... my seniors who have taken photo 11 with me, get more digital training. I know that when I retire (about 6 years from now), my colleague (young female and former student of mine) will slide in and shut down the darkroom. She's already told me that.

[Duolab123]

I am high school photography teacher. All 9 high schools in my district taught darkroom photography. Now only 3 do. Teachers retired and were replaced by young teachers who knew/know only digital. Even some of the teachers have no formal training in photography... My program is alive and well. I do 90% analogue, 5% digital, 5% hybrid alt (film scan to digital output, film scan to cyanotype or gum)... my seniors who have taken photo 11 with me, get more digital training. I know that when I retire (about 6 years from now), my colleague (young female and former student of mine) will slide in and shut down the darkroom. She's already told me that.

That's a shame to limit the students to digital. I think given the opportunity, digital, analog and hybrid would be the best approach. I know young folks that are using every tool there is, and earning a living and growing. It's not just digital. Photoshop is great. Being a really good typist, used to prepare you to be a secretary. Same can be said for doing graphics grunt work.
I see people making large inkjet negatives and producing beautiful salt prints, gum etc.
I have a really nice DSLR, it's amazing for action, people, my cats etc. There's more to love about photography now, than ever before.

[Mark Sawyer]

There's more to love about photography now, than ever before.

That's the secret no one knows: it's all good. :)

[dodphotography]

It's interesting that when I was in graduate school (not that long ago, graduated in May of 17 with an MFA in Photography) advisor after advisor, classmate after classmate gave me such a hard time about shooting film. I shot 8x10 and printed wet for 2 years through my thesis show and was told countless times that I wasn't "with the times" and that it would affect my prospects moving forward as I sought employment. It's interesting that while I wanted to teach, at no point did I ever aspire to teach in higher education. I knew the landscape of that world and did not want to get trapped as an adjunct having to rely on my wife to carry the load in terms of income and benefits. After those two years of hearing that I'd never find a job I relish in the fact that of the number of people I knew not only in my own program but also at RISD, Lesley, and the SMFA (all local programs) that I'm only person who is teaching full time. I knew from day one that if I wanted to secure that employment that there was more security in secondary schools than in higher education.

I'm proud to continue a strong tradition of analog / wet darkroom practice where I teach. We have a fully stocked digital lab and darkroom where we as a program provide the students with all the materials. I love this element because even though we are fairly exclusive prep school in New England, there are still students on financial aid who may or may not be able to swing a semester of film, paper, and providing their own cameras. Every day I pinch myself, really... I do. I love what I do, I love working with students, I love seeing them discover things about themselves that they never knew existed, seeing them challenge how they define themselves and expanding that box of being exclusively an athlete or a scholar headed to the Ivies.

I also find it interesting that after Photo 1 I have a number of students that elect to take advanced photo where they chose their medium. If I have say 8-10 students, it's wonderful to see 8 or 9 stick with film despite their hyper scheduled lives and the appeal of a faster workflow that exists in digital. Over the last two years I have been ramping up our offerings and took a crippled supply closet and slowly brought in some Chamonix 4x5's, Rolleiflexes, Pentax 67 etc. I find it important to introduce students to tools and resources that are on a professional level, given that their attention span is so short that a camera that doesn't quite work or some off brand film is enough to dissuade them and provide more frustration than pleasure.