By Rick Stanton
As some of you may recall from previous columns, I graduated from the UW with a degree in secondary education. My first job was as the art director for the Kelso School District, where I taught high school art and developed the art curriculum for the entire district.
Looking back on all of it, I’ve maintained a couple of take-a-ways.
First, a good 50% of the knuckleheads I was in college with shouldn’t have been there. They were dodging the Vietnam War while wasting mom and dad’s money, discovering that beer is a food group and having no end-game plan.
The second—and more important—take-a-way is that our public-education model fails a lot of students. There were kids in my art classes who thought it would be an easy A—and they were very wrong. I demanded effort and tried to provide content that went beyond understanding the color wheel. My classes definitely weren’t Basket Weaving 101.
What I discovered early on was that there were students in those classes who should have been learning how to be a mechanic, or a carpenter or an electrician. That’s where their aptitude and passion resided, not in graphic design—especially in that heavily blue-collar area of southwest Washington.
And the idea that everyone needed/needs to go to college was/is debilitating. The European approach to education is rooted in helping kids find their true strengths and guiding them toward ways to achieve individual success.
So it’s from this point of view that I applaud the 4 A’s first MECA program graduating class. The program is designed to give kids with an interest in advertising a head start in following their curiosity, while giving them a practical understanding of what the business is all about.
I had the opportunity to promote this type of education while working on the Pima Medical Institute account for several years. PIMA gave students the alternative to side-step the traditional-college route and get an education in something they really cared about (in this case, healthcare) while preparing them in short order for a job they could enjoy and benefit from for the rest of their lives.
This is the same opportunity that MECA is giving budding ad pros.
I’m glad I went to the UW. And I’m glad I tried teaching and coaching. Both gave me the wake-up call that led to my 40 years in advertising. I just hope the MECA program teaches students the value of great creative. And maybe even how to write and produce radio that rewards listeners for giving up a minute of their lives—but alas, I ask too much, perhaps.
https://www.ranker.com/list/most-useless-college-majors/school-buddy
