Defending the Darkroom in Education

[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