Defenders of the status quo in education like to portray themselves as on a higher plane than critics of same but a look at what they are defending usually leaves the uninitiated wondering why such an allegedly highbrow crowd goes in for enterprises that could, at best, be described as lowbrow.
For example, look at what comes out of the Fine Arts divisions of many state, and not a few nominally private, colleges and universities. You will search in vain for a modern-day Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet or Goya.
For instance, Ohio State University proudly displayed a painting in its faculty lounge that looked as though it were concocted by a convict who had just been denied parole. This opus featured U. S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as a lawn jockey.
Further exploration of the arts division at institutions of higher learning turns up work that does not quite reach that level of refined nuance:
• A six-hundred pound block of lard gnawed by the artist himself.
• A block of chocolate gnawed by the same artist. (A new school of art?)
• An inflated balloon made of plastic breasts.
• Photographs of cow’s heads floating in pools of blood.
• Milk poured over a marble slab.
• A large pile of candy.
• Glued-together toothpicks.
• Branches dipped in green paint.
• Neon strings draped from the ceiling.
• Photographs of board and string.
• Strings hanging with drinking straws.
• Photographs of Mickey Mouse key chains.
• Vacuum-packed panty hose.
And these aren’t even the really offensive exhibits. A couple of years ago, Princeton propped up an art display that showed, in the words of ’03 graduate Matthew O’Brien:
• “Apparently authentic scapulars and images of the Virgin Mary arranged in a circle entitled ‘Shackles of the AIDS virus.’”
• “Pictures of naked female torsos arranged in a mock-cross and entitled ‘Crucifixion No. 2.”
• “Torn up images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
Other than to take politically-correct education to the next level, what possible reason could Arts departments at the oldest established colleges and universities have for such diversions? Could it be that the art instructors themselves have no talent?
When they routinely give assignments in which they command students to draw with their eyes closed, one has to wonder.
Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.
