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<p>You make a very valid point. However, I said what I said because (at least in my own personal experience), history majors, music majors, and English majors are more “open” to a wide variety of jobs. There is no one career known as “the music career” or “the English career”. These students seem to be driven by a general interest in a certain area, and therefore towards any job that allows them to use such interests. I can think of more jobs that would accept an English or History major than a major as specific as film production or creative writing. </p>
<p>Unlike a wider area of study such as English or History, with film there really are only a handful of those prized jobs. I don’t think anyone majoring in filmmaking or screenwriting tells themselves “I’ll be happy with anything” or “let’s just see where this takes me”. A large majority of them would either like to write scripts, direct features, or aid with cinematography. These skills aren’t necessarily practical in a wide variety of fields. Maybe digital filmmaking is, if a student would be happy taking on a job as a videographer for, say, advertising companies rather than being a creative storyteller. But I can’t think of how the skillset gained from a creative writing major would necessarily transfer into many jobs (that isn’t to say it can’t, though, when you have a more open minded employer). </p>
<p>Your statement “if nobody majored in these areas, who would then become tomorrow’s artists, writers, etc.” also implies that a college education is a basic necessity for these careers. Last I checked, many of the greatest artists today never attended college for either of these fields, or didn’t attend college at all. Quentin Tarantino even dropped out of high school. While Steven Spielberg is technically a USC graduate, he only enrolled and got in after he was very successful. So I suppose the answer to your question is… anyone who wants to pursue these areas, whether or not they decide to acquire expensive, formal training or not. The education is certainly a factor, but it isn’t the deciding one. </p>
<p>You do make a strong point, however, by saying these selective programs already cut off the less talented kids. Though there is one flaw I still see here. These programs don’t simply accept students on artistic merit alone. A student with outstanding grades in a variety of AP classes, participation in a sport and clubs, a great SAT score, community service hours AND a ‘decent’ portfolio of work is surely more likely to be accepted into these programs than a student with an outstanding portfolio of work, but lacking high school marks. While it’s true that many of these elements - grades, sports, clubs, SAT - say a lot about the kind of person someone is, at the end of the day they’re truly irrelevant factors when it comes to how talented a writer or filmmaker someone is. This also has to be taken into account. </p>
<p>I think an NYU or USC education is wonderful. The education itself can only help, not hurt. However, if significant debt is picked up along the way, I can’t help but wonder if it’s worth it. I’m all for being educated and expanding your mind. But should “expanding the mind” really come with a 40k price tag? Or at the very least, can the mind be expanded in an area that can be used to grab a wide selection of jobs, as opposed to a smaller number of specific ones?</p>
<p>and @evilqueen - I never said a college degree in general is worthless. I’m only suggesting there are certain factors that need to be taken into account (not only blind desire). If your child wants to be a surgeon, they must go to college. There’s absolutely no way to learn surgery at home, unless you have a set of expensive medical tools and a couple of cadavers on hand of course. On top of that, no one in their right mind wants an unlicensed doctor operating on them. For the arts though? I know that when I read a book, or watch a film, or buy a piece of artwork, I care about one thing and one thing only - quality. I could care less if someone went to college. I’m going to buy the better book or watch the better film and better actor, no matter what educational background the author, filmmaker, or actor has. </p>
<p>In my own personal opinion, there are other ways to learn these crafts that do not require a college degree. As I said before, I don’t know too much about theater, but for writing and filmmaking, my feelings remain unchanged. </p>