Page 28 - Studio International - July August 1968

Engineer, Musician, Artist, teacher of Move- students (environment) in attendant studios very limited success. They did however open
ment and Dance, as well as members of the and workshops. the door to change, which in a more truly
Central Core (Liberal Studies so called) Anything short of a change of this kind and radical sense must still come about.
actually being on the ground in the work- significance will not be sufficient, be it unto
shops as and when required. From such a the idea of art, education and the people
unit Painting and Sculpture, with other forms working in our institutions. The last shuffle-
of personal expression, would be developed around by the Summerson body was an Elma Askham Thubron
by the individual (icon) and/or groups of attempt to change the old order with only and Harry Thubron

Correspondence such a case. objectives. There could be a number of ways of
With technology progressing at an ever-accelerat- leaving the system. Some paths through could meet
ing speed, it is clear that the design students we are the requirement of an outside body like the Summer-
training now will have to face and solve problems son Council, other paths could be strictly designed
which cannot at this time be foreseen. The only for entry into a professional body, others again could
students likely to be of lasting value to the community be designed mainly to meet students' own wishes.
are those who are themselves innovators. One thing These paths need not be mutually exclusive. At each
then is clear: design education should seek to choice-point the emphasis would be placed on
promote versatility as a major characteristic of the choosing the most effective means of reaching
trained designer. This can only be done by emphasiz- objectives. Ideally no student need be rejected from
ing principles rather than specifics, and avoiding a the system altogether for lack of ability, but rather a
reliance on a particular technology. Many principles means could be sought to capitalize on what he has
Hornsey's dissenting voice—the 'revolution' at of direct value to the design education are at present to offer. If the system was incapable of dealing with a
Hornsey College of Art not found among the traditional art school curricula. student then he could be guided elsewhere rather
Dear Sir, For example, I suppose most art students are urged than just rejected and forgotten. As a society we
The unilateral action taken by staff and students at to draw the spaces between objects and not just the cannot afford to under-use our potential. Student
Hornsey College of Art was not solely about the objects themselves, in an effort to maintain perspec- selection should be the very last part of the education
atrocious working conditions, nor a demand for tive. They are taught how a white object must usually system to be settled. Once objectives have been
student power for power's sake. It was the inevitable be rendered in the colours contained in other objects recognized, a system for attaining them can be
consequence of a policy of compromise which the which surround it. These are two specific items. If the designed. Selection is a means of keeping out of the
National Advisory Council for Art Education felt student were first taught the principle of visual system those people who cannot successfully be
obliged to take. constancy, an account of which can be found in any led to its objectives. Until the aims and' means of
Sir William Coldstream's job was to secure the decent psychology textbook, these two pieces of attaining them have been decided it is impossible to
future of art and design education at as high a level formerly discrete information become related. The make sense of selection. All the time there are a
as possible. That meant the spending of public funds, same principle gives an explanation of the Muller- variety of art and design colleges, pursuing different
so artand design education has to become respectable. Lyer arrow illusion and why architects' presentation objectives, in a number of different ways. It is plain
Sir John Summerson, when he visited Hornsey, said drawings make buildings look longer and lower than silly nonsense to adopt a national selection policy.
that the adoption of the GCE entrance requirement they look in real life. It gives the student insight into Furthermore, to alight on GCE as the yardstick
was just such an exercise in gaining respectability. why the photographs he takes seldom seem to shows incredible disregard for the facts. Reference to
Unfortunately it did not stop with GCE. The worst represent the object of his study so large and clear research work contained in the reading list appended
features of the university system—fixed courses, as it looked, and why it is that most painters get the to this letter makes it abundantly clear that it is
separate departments, and formal examinations— size of the moon wrong. impossible to assume a relationship between school
were all adopted. The saving graces of the universi- By the same token it seems to me inefficient to attainment, as measured by traditional exams like
ties—a certain independence from the State, and teach fashion without exploring the social function GCE, and creative ability in art and design. Mac-
at least a nominal commitment to freedom of the of clothing, advertising graphics without the motiva- farlane Smith in his book Spatial Ability suggests
individual—were not embraced. tion of buying, industrial design without human there is a negative relationship between ability in
I would suggest that the adoption of this job-lot of engineering, indeed art and design without the school subjects like English, foreign languages,
educational procedures has drawn our attention to theory of perception. Come to that it seems wasteful physics, chemistry and biology, and ability in Art.
the means of education before the ends had been to embark on a three-year or four-year course of Such a conclusion is borne out by the figures
sufficiently discussed. The fundamental objectives of education without giving the student a good insight published in the 1959 Annual Report of the Royal
art and design education have never really been into the process of learning, and the value judgments, College of Art. An analysis of all the students
hammered out. The extent to which an educational policy decisions or assumptions which lie behind the admitted to the Royal College of Art between 1950
procedure achieves its objectives is the ultimate educational treatment he is going to receive. and 1959 reveals the following information :
measure of its excellence. If art and design education If the educational system itself has to remain
is to be re-evaluated, the discussion must begin with versatile, it must be constructed not just to allow for Students with 1st 2nd
an exhaustive enquiry into its aims. change but to promote change. Fixed courses and 5 GCE '0'
class class Pass Fail Total
Any educational system has to attempt to meet separate departments do not encourage this
demands from at least three sources. Society as a dynamic. The effect of this quest for respectability is levels or more: 15.8% 47.3% 35.8% 1% 100%
whole, which puts up the money, requires people to that the whole administrative machinery from the
Students with
fulfil various functions, some more productive than Department of Education and Science downward is
less than 5
others. The students to be educated exercise a choice constructed to preserve a system where emphasis is
GCE '0'
and will presumably opt for an education which placed on students meeting standards which have
levels:
17.4% 47.4% 32.4% 2.8% 100%
appears to them rewarding. The training institutions often been arbitrarily derived. To say the least this is
themselves may carry some tradition; often an an inefficient use of man-power. What is required is a
interest in preserving a discipline, 'or passing on a system which can adapt to its students so as to get the This information was available before the Cold-
body of knowledge. most out of them. This implies shifting the emphasis stream Report was written. The price of respect-
This last can be the biggest driving force for change, off selection and assessment and into guidance. The ability, it would seem, is the exclusion from art and
but often- works as a break on progress. Certainly 'net work' system is an attempt to do this. Instead of design colleges of a large proportion of our most
here there is most likely to be a confusion between being presented with a choice of fixed courses, to talented people.
means and ends, leading to the institutionalization which he can either fit himself or get out, the It is true that colleges can provide a loophole for the
of courses and examinations as worthy educational student is presented with a series of choice points student of exceptional ability who has no GCE, but
objectives in their own right, with little reference to throughout his stay at college. Irrevocable decisions the figures suggest that providing a loophole is not
the ultimate purpose of education. ,Many would are delayed for as long as is possible, without the best strategy as the barrier itself is inappropriate.
think that Art History as taught for Dip. A.D. was endangering the attainment of a particular set of At his meeting with the members of Hornsey College