Tuesday Sept 9, 2014
We are in the process of assembling outcomes for our various disciplines. And yes there are rubrics for management, marketing, accounting, and so on. No doubt this will pass muster at the AACSB examination time but I think it misses the larger point of what used to be a college degree.
As Hollywood writer Burt Prelutsky observed, John Wayne earned a college degree back when it meant something. A few semesters back a student began a presentation with the quote
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
I asked her who wrote that, what was the book, and what was the book about. Not only did she not know but no one else in class knew.
Now granted we are not teaching British Literature here, but shouldn't a college graduate know more than the guys knocking down old buildings at Brooks City Base? Isn't there a higher intellectual level of attainment expected here?
I suspect we, that being TAMUSA, should incorporate some sort of art appreciation into the curriculum.
San Antonio has a surprising number of theaters, museums, galleries and historic sites, Yet how many of our students take advantage of such diverse opportunities?
For example a true gem of the SA experince is the McNay Museum. Here is a summary of their latest exhibit of Impressionist Art.
What is impressionism?
For that matter, what exactly does the art of any era tell su about the people of that era?
What constitutes artistic expression – paintings, sculpture, photos, and as I noted in the previous post, collectible cars.
Organized by the National Gallery of Art and drawing from the personal collections formed by Ailsa Mellon Bruce and her brother, Paul Mellon, and other donors to the Gallery, Intimate Impressionism is the most extensive exhibition of French impressionist and post-impressionist paintings to come to San Antonio. In nearly 70 landscapes, portraits, interiors, and still lifes, the exhibition demonstrates the similar aesthetic goals shared by the avant-garde painters of the era. The plein-air practices of impressionist precursors Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind, inspired brightly colored, luminous works by featured artists Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley. Intimate Impressionism also includes paintings that are personal in subject matter—fascinating self-portraits by Edgar Degas, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, and Édouard Vuillard, as well as works depicting family members or friends and views of the artist’s favorite spaces. A fully illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition. San Antonio, San Francisco, and Seattle, and Rome and Tokyo abroad, are the only exhibition venues.
During my recent trip to San Francisco I stopped at a gallery specializing in LeRoy Neiman . He gained popularity in the 1970s particularly in the avant garde of that era, Playboy magazine, yes it was about a lot more than just pinups. He painted on many topics particularly sports and jazz. 
And he even painted stock and commodity exchanges. This is a painting of the Chicago Options Exchange in 1990.
What do you see?
Is this more effective than a photo of the exchange?
Why was this a worthy subject?
Anyone out there interested in exploring this topic further?
By example I can imagine organizing local tours of various exhibits or perhaps attending some locally produced plays. It would go a long way towards moving us from what is still basically an extension campus to something more like a real university experience.
But then I always have ben a couple of standard deviations away from the mean…
Professor Elam 