Well, I’ve been on a rollercoaster of late having to do with a business I started in January. Turns out I’m going to pull the plug on it. It just didn’t work out. With the associated stress of such a happening, I’ve been a slacker in creating any art. My apologies dear readers.
As for this post, I’m traveling so I have no way to scan the drawing. But, as soon as I have access to a scanner, I’ll add it to the post. For now, imagine an old school house built in the early 1940’s. Brick with white columns in front.
I’m always looking for something to draw and like it to be associated with daily life if at all possible. The drawing for this post relates to a press release I read recently for an online University called Capella University. They offer degrees and certificates in higher education online, to the tune of 70+ specializations. When I visited their site I was amazed to find that one could obtain everything from a Certificate to a PhD in a wide variety of interesting, career oriented, arenas. Capella is accredited too…something I was always a bit skeptical of when I first heard of online degree programs a few years back.
So, dear reader, I know you’re asking yourself, what does this Capella University press release have to do with Don’s drawing of a school? Did he lose his mind in his absence the last sixty days?
The painting is of my old grammar school. Fitzhugh Lee Elementary. The same one Julia Roberts attended. When I read the Capella University press release, It reminded me of just how far the world has come in forty-three short years. Forty-three years ago, about once a week for thirty minutes or so, fifteen or twenty 4th graders (read guinea pigs) would sit staring blankly at a black and white television with three channels while a nice looking black-haired lady spewed Spanish at us. Supposedly, we learned Spanish while watching it. I distinctly remember NOT hearing what the spanish meant in english. That’s what “remote learning” meant in those days.
Today, just forty-three years after my little feet pitter-pattered on the creaky hardwood floors at Fitzhugh Lee Elementary, I can earn a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Organization and Management with an Information Technology Management Specialization, from Capella University. And I can do it all online!
That my friends is a far, faaaaaar cry from watching a pretty lady repeat spanish phrases over and over on the Georgia Education Network in 1964.
Old Fitzhugh would be proud.
4 Comments
Ah the old schools. They don’t make them like they used to. And while I am so impressed with modern learning, I too yearn for the good old days. Can’t wait to see the drawing. I was planning on doing a watercolour of my old school too.
regards,
Zan
(Mississauga, Canada)
Try taking a digital photo in open shade of your sketch and upload from your computer. I have a sscanner but I use this method and it works fairly well. Check out the meeting sketch as an example.
…dave
daveterry.blogspot.com
It’s so nice to have a juicy post from you and even your imaginary drawing is great! You are so right about the leap in “remote ” learning. A few years ago the college where I teach flirted with web based classes. They still even have a few. But as I tell my design students, the experience of sharing all our work and ideas face to face is really so much richer. Some of them do elect to take a gen ed or two on line but no one has offered to do the art and design classes on line and the students are not asking for them.
Thanks for the comments Lindsay, Dave and Zan! And thanks for stopping by too.
I just got back to the base nest. I’ll upload dear old Fitzhugh Lee in the morning and also add a few more posts I worked on over the weekend.
Dave, I appreciate the tip. I wish I’d had the camera with me |-(
I usually do, but forgot to bring it along on this little trip.
Zan, what amazes me about this old school is that it’s still there! Most of them have been replaced down here. Last time I was inside was 30 years after leaving. What a shock! The gym was so small. Back then it seemed like a cathedral to me.
Lindsay, I noticed that Capella didn’t offer any art degrees. Seems it would be a tough thing to do since artists get so much inspiration from each other. I suppose that’s why students aren’t clamoring for them. The online schools seem well suited to business oriented learning though. Face to face, I agree is intregal to artistic learning.
Happy fall to y’all!
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