Brayden Varr
Journal Staff
Besides the less time spent in class, the fewer classes per semester, and the more engaging (sometimes) activities you get to do in college, what is the one thing we secretly look forward to everyday? Professors missing class!
It’s always nerve-racking when waiting those 15 minutes to see if your professor will actually show up, or when you constantly refresh your SUmail to see if you received an email saying they would be absent. However, when that email does come – pure bliss.
Except at NESAD. Here at the New England School of Art and Design, 75 Arlington St., far away from Suffolk’s main campus, we do things a tad differently. Not only are our classes considerably longer than most of your typical four-credit courses (six hours per week, actually), we provide students with subs. Yes, substitute professors. No more naps, no more lunch date, you definitely have “class.”
When questioning upper management, their response was somewhere along the lines of “There’s so little time, and we need to squeeze in as much studio time and learning time as possible.” This seems perfectly legitimate on paper of course, when, in reality, it turns into a work session with no guidance and some professor sitting at a desk playing on the computer. One time, a NESAD professor walked into the class as a sub stating, “The last time I taught Color Theory, was, well, never.” He didn’t even make it through the three-hour studio. No work was accomplished either.
Essentially, this wonderful idea of subs is doing exactly what NESAD doesn’t want to happen. Instead of that great three-hour chunk of learning, it’s more like three hours of lost faces and empty thoughts. Upon exiting the classroom after a sub experience, pun intended, the intense feeling of ambiguity is indistinguishable.
Here at Suffolk University, the semester tuition is $14,207. With five studio art classes, that is $2,814 per class, plus the $150 “studio” fee, which makes each class day worth a total of $124.50. That $124.50 is completely robbed from each student every time a “sub” is provided.
If NESAD and Suffolk value the studio time that much, an alternative course of action must be implemented. Perhaps find rightfully suited professors to fill in, or research what the current topic is and see if it is something that actually needs guidance. Don’t forget, we are adults here, we can think for ourselves. Maybe our real professor could even create a lesson plan, or maybe even reschedule the class. But perhaps Suffolk doesn’t value our education that much.
I completely understand professors have external lives, I completely understand it’s hard to be a substitute in any situation, let alone art school, and I completely understand this isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do. Nonetheless, this system is inefficient, improperly executed, and in the long run devalues the education received here and retrogrades the education process.