In Reply to: "Generation X Goes to College" posted by lafong on January 30, 2026 at 17:54:10
I paid for my own education. In California in the 70's that was possible. I had the little help the GI bill provided and then I worked. Sometimes I could get an on campus job very early in the morning like cleaning toilets and other times I stopped and went to work to save money (sometimes just to live). When I got to NYC and Pratt I struggled. I had some money saved, got a student's loan and worked but it was enough. NYC, even on the cheap was still expensive in the early 80's.
I had to have a serious conversation with myself and try to figure out whether I really wanted to teach. I was in grad school primarily to get an MFA so I could teach at the college level. I figured out that I really didn't want to teach and only saw that route as a means to an end - mainly having a job while still trying to maintain an active studio life.
After that I dropped out and struggled to find some sort of foothold in the art world. I was lucky and was able to support myself exclusively by what I made. My last employer was back in 1980 something. I think it worked out well for me. I never really became famous but I did have a little taste of that for awhile - a very little while. People who knew me well and had taught pretty much agreed that I probably wouldn't have lasted too long anyway in the teaching profession. Being a grass roots entrepreneurial kind of guy and a combat veteran to boot, my BS tolerance was and remains very very low. I don't suffer fools or folly very well.
I did some talks/slide presentations to art classes at the high school and college level and had a little taste of academia long after leaving Pratt, But those gigs, I had gathered, really weren't anything like teaching and being in the bureaucratic trenches day to day and wrestling with young egos wanting and maybe expecting to be "art stars." My hat is off to you and those who persevered in that environment. On the other hand, I suspect there were also some very rewarding experiences.