Art Schools Advice

I've been looking at/researching various art institutions with low-residency programs for their MFAs.

I've left out a couple, either because of extreme price (i.e. MICA's $138k MFA) or other personal reasons.

I realize the final decision is up to me, but I wanted to include some options here for everyone to look at, perhaps research a little themselves, and give me suggestions. I'm going to finish a BFA, and I'll only be able to afford one final degree afterwards, so I'm going to go ahead with an MFA. In intend to be able to use this MFA, not only for industry credentials, but also for possible/potential academic teaching on the college level.

Now, some of you may be asking about concentration. There are a lot of those. Well, when looking at the options, I'm okay with any of them. While there seems to be a need for graphics design (or related) professors right now (and that's the way I'm leaning anyway), it may not be the case several years for now. The fine art field is always a gamble, anyway.

What I'm truly looking for here is the best education, with the best industry recognition, as quickly as possible, for the best price. Naturally, I can't have all of these things, nor do I expect all of them. But you see the point here.

 

You may want to be very careful with depending on getting a teaching job. I don't know how it is in the arts, but in most other areas, there are a great many applicants for every job opening. When that's the case, it's usually the experienced teachers that land the jobs. It's really tough out there. I don't want to rain on your parade too badly, but I would be very careful. The prospects in many places are not that great.

 

Oh, I expect that. I come from a family of educators, so I know how difficult it is. My mother just recently secured a high school principal job after applying for over 1.5 years, and that's not even on the college level.

I expect it to be absolute hell, to be honest, but it's a battle I'm prepared to fight.

 

And someone will eventually see the University of Houston does not have a low-residency MFA program. That's fine. I will, in the near future be living in Houston, so it won't be a problem to do a campus program there.

The whole thing here, is that I'd like to be able to teach high school (or something similar) while doing the MFA. I know it'll be tough, but I am prepared.

Just thought I'd add this to my initial post.

 

I have a friend who just now found a teaching job after 7 years of trying. He did manage to substitute teach while he was looking, but it was 7 lean years. It just proves that you can do it if you refuse to give up.

Also, since you are a family of educators, maybe someone in your family knows someone and can help you get your foot in the door.

 

Does "prepared" mean that you already have a Texas teaching certificate ?

 

Nope, not yet. Those are easy enough to get though if you have at least 24 hours in a specific field. Once you pass your initial TExES certification test, you can certify in any of the other fields simply by passing the respective TExES certification test (regardless of whether you've had training in them or not). Not sure that's the best thing in the world, but that's how it's done here.

In fact, quite frankly, you don't even need to have a teaching certificate in Texas to start teaching if you've already got a degree. The state will issue you an emergency certification (with the consent and agreement from a school district) so that you can start teaching immediately at that school while working on passing your TExES certification.

 

Now that's interesting. It was my understanding that states only issued an emergency credential when there was a teacher shortage. That's how it used to be here in California; there weren't enough teachers so they would grant an emergency credential to people with the proper degrees with the understanding that they would soon earn a teaching credential. Does Texas have a teacher shortage? That would surprise me if you tell me they do.

 

As a general answer, yes. Some places not so much, but overall, especially in metro areas, there tends to be a shortage. VERY MUCH SO in places around the southern border of Texas (i.e. near Mexico). In fact, there are some locations that Texas will help pay part (or all) of your student loans if you teach in those specific high-need areas for a certain length of time. Some of the main reasons why a shortage exists are pay, working conditions in some places, and safety concerns.

Emergency certificates are available for a period of 12 months only and are not renewable. So if you don't get your TExES certification passed in that 12 months, you are no longer eligible to teach.

Teachers in Texas (school teachers) do not get paid very well. We do not have teacher unions like other states do, and while many people and government officials constantly tout how important education is, the state never considers mandating a progressive pay-scale change for teachers. Many school districts pay above the state-required minimum (which is almost a joke), but many do not. If you want additional pay for higher degrees, you have to go to larger school districts. Many of them will pay +$1000 a year for a master's, and +$2000 a year for a doctorate in addition to their district-mandated pay schedules.

Why would you be a high school teacher making $27,000, when you could just as easily apply that degree (in almost any other field you could imagine) and make more somewhere else? Lots of school districts do not pay much (if any) towards teacher health insurance (some pay a lot, but most don't), so what you end up with, after taxes, is someone who is bringing home $1800 a month after taxes, and BEFORE the insurance premium is taken out. Then there's also teacher retirement, if you opt for that (which you'd be stupid not to do if you plan to continue being a teacher). Then, of course, you have all of the normal expenses, including student loans (most people do), that have to come out of that, and you don't have much left. You have to REALLY want to be an educator here to be a teacher. So the state and school districts do what they can to try attract teachers. In fact, I've started seeing larger school districts offer signing bonuses to get people to come be teachers. One school district offered a $5000 signing bonus for new teachers. At the end of their first completed year with the district, they received $3000, and at the end of their second completed year, they received the remaining $2000.

 

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Texas granted a large number of emergency teaching credentials after Hurricane Katrina, when there was a sudden surge in public school enrollments due to evacuees. However, that particular crisis is over now. My guess is that the current job market is likely to be unusually competitive, at least in arts and humanities. Some school districts do offer signing bonuses, but primarily for math, science, and technology teachers.

 

WOW! That's pretty lame. You are right, you would really have to want to teach to be in those conditions. It's pretty difficult to live on $27K these days and you are telling me that's before deductions. Then there are safety and working condition issues too? You are making me even more for grateful for where I teach. (And I already was pretty grateful!)

 

You're right, but they still grant them. I wouldn't necessarily say that the job market is unusually competitive, however, in the arts and humanities. It's difficult to find some of those jobs in smaller school districts, but not necessarily so in larger ones. You are correct again, in part, on the signing bonuses. It all depends on where you're at. There is a huge shortage of math/science teachers, and a degree in one of those fields with the ability to teach will almost guarantee you a teacher position anywhere in Texas. I will add to that, however, that just because you have a degree in Art, English, or History does not make you less marketable. There are/were schools hiring for all three of those arts/humanities positions, that have still not filled them. Not because they can't find the perfect candidate, but because there isn't a pool sufficient to fill the spot. For this reason, dual (or more) certifications are very popular here. Since they have spots they can't fill, they make one teacher teach multiple subjects.

Yep. Now, again, it's not everywhere. Some schools and districts pay well, are fantastic, and are state-of-the-art. I would call those an exception, though. Take the Houston area for example. Teachers in that market, depending on school districts of course, usually start around $42000-$44000 a year. Of course, in a lot of cases, there are those things we talked about (conditions, safety, etc.). So for some people, even the increased pay is not enough. Depending on where you are, you could be at a new state-of-the-art high school in a wealthier part of Region IV (educational region), making starting pay with a bachelor's degree of $45,000 a year (with $200-$300 step increases in pay raise every year), with the district paying 85% of your insurance premiums AND giving you a departmental stipend to assist in purchasing necessary materials for your classes. This isn't normal, though. Some schools are in bad shape, some of them still contain asbestos, some of them have mold. In some of the schools, crime is terrible and having campus police is necessary (and still doesn't always work). Consider El Paso, Texas. Right across the border from Juarez, and aside from Arizona, a bad place for kidnappings, gangs, crime, and inner-school conflict. It's hard to find teachers out there. It's pretty much like anywhere else, I suppose. There are always exceptions, and always variations.

Also, some people just don't want to be teachers. *shrugs*

One thing I don't like, though, that I'm beginning to see, is people going into the education field because they think it's easy -- you work 8-4 (or somewhere close to it), get weekends off, get summers off, etc. These people care nothing about teaching, they just want what they perceive as benefits of a job. At the same time, these are the teachers that aren't really teaching, and are just a warm body with a degree filling a spot. Why does this happen? We don't have enough awesome teachers or people with passion about education. They have to fill the spot with SOMEONE. This also sort of applies to CalDog's comments above.

Anyone that is an educator - a good educator - knows that being a teacher does not begin at 8am or stop at 4pm. Good educators come before work to help students, stay after to help students, grade papers and create lesson plans (and other related tasks) at home or on weekends. Being a good teacher is like being a perpetual college student (without all of the social life part). You go to class all day, come home and do homework, and get up and go again the next day. Some teachers even do summer school, so they don't really get those vacations that everyone thinks they get. To be a good teacher, you really have to have passion, and you have to live your job. It has to be part of what keeps you going. If it isn't, you shouldn't be teaching.

 

Yes. I said it before just recently that some lazy people are attracted to teaching because they think it's easy and they like the fact that there is a lot of time off. The problem is that you have to work on your time off just to make up for the poor pay. The people who go into teaching because they think it's easy are usually the same people who only last a few years. It's a lot more work than it appears, especially so because controlling the kids and keeping them learning is the really difficult part. It takes a special gift that many people just don't have. Controlling your own children is one thing, controlling 25 to 35 is exponentially more difficult. I have no problems and totally love teaching, but it's not that way for many.

 

Sorry that your thread got hijacked. That happens around here on most threads, but you didn't get many answers to your question.

Does anyone have any insight into art schools that they can share to answer the OP's question?

 

Oh, I'm not even worried about the hijack. I contributed to it myself. I got to have a great discussion on education, which is just as well. Hehe.

I was hoping to have more people vote in the poll, and perhaps offer some insight from a different perspective than mine, but it is what it is. There have been some votes, and I am thankful for those.

 

All I can say here, in agreement with you 110%, is precisely! You said exactly my take on the situation, and I sincerely think that some people simply do not understand what teaching is all about or how it works. In fact, I wonder sometimes if there are more people in education that are truly clueless, than there are that have any glimmer of a clue (not to sound sound arrogant or like an education snob).

 

Asking me to comment on an art degree program would be like telling Michael not to start anymore threads...ain't gonna happen...ever.

I would not even begin to give you advice on which Art program to choose. As for the field of education, it certainly is a calling and is also most certainly a difficult and often times thankless job.

Seems like the hiring is not going so well either. Some schools requested federal money to hire back teachers they had to lay off. Now that they received the federal money they are instead keeping the money "just in case" in some sort of "rainy day fund". What?

Given Money, Schools Wait on Rehiring Teachers

In my area there are 3 pretty good schools (and 1 amazing school) that pump out teachers, and from what I have heard some adminisrators say there are up 12-15 teachers already stacked behind and waiting for openings within the school district.

Also, Art and Music seem to be some of the first courses to see reductions in their funding.

What else can you do with an Art degree?

 

Good question.

Lots of things, but it all depends on what kind of art degree you have. If you have a studio art degree (especially on the graduate level), you can teach at colleges or universities. You can work in art galleries, or at non-profits relating to the arts and humanities. You also have the skills to be an artist, selling your own art.

If it's in art degree in something like digital media, sound or recording arts, or graphic design, you can work at computer companies, game companies, advertising/marketing/pr companies, for major sports teams, etc. Art doesn't limit you to teaching, but the type of art you practice can have some impact on what you can do in the workforce.

If you're talking specifically about high school art teaching, yes, art/music/theatre are often the first things to get cut (which is completely odd to me given that there are a multitude of studies that show that art and music increase abilities in other areas like math and science), but there are still jobs for all of those. At least where I live.

Being an artist, and especially getting a degree or degrees in art, is a gamble anyway. Life doesn't give us a guarantee, though, on anything (except death and taxes).

 

Are you saying I start too many threads? Well then, I'm going to have to start a thread to ask if everyone else thinks so too!

Art and music are often the first subjects to be eliminated. Several years ago, I was hired as a music teacher at our local unified school district and didn't end up taking the job in favor of the regular classroom one I have now. If I would have taken the music teacher job, I would have been cut within a few years, because most of the music teachers are gone now.

 

It doesn't appear that there are many people who know anything about art schools. Sorry about that.