As many of you know that my day job is in Ceramics Tech. Part of this is teaching Glaze Calc here in Alfred to the Art Students. As the new year dawns, I will begin teaching another batch of eager students. I love my students as their thirst for knowledge is unquenchable. What does drive me crazy is that I have to spend a good part of my teaching time clearing their minds of the crap that it has been filled with. I'm looking at you Graduate Students, as all of our undergrads are Alfred trained and are brimming with only the finest information.
Why does the ceramics world have a war on science? For some reason, ceramicists have a habit of believing everything that is told to them when it comes to the technical side of ceramics. And virtually everything that is taught to them is wrong. It is one of the biggest burdens that I have is to struggle against bad information.
I think ceramicists can do better. As a whole we have an amazing population. Think about the fact that almost everyone in the ceramics field has at least a Undergraduate degree and very likely an advanced degree. There are not that many pursuits out there that are so well educated. Yet we rely on bad information, when it comes to how our glazes work, or what is going on in our kilns. The information is out there. But you have to think critically.
So this will be my sounding board. I promise not to rant too much, but I do promise to provide great information.
2 comments:
Dear Matthew,
Perhaps you might like to give examples of misinformation that have come to light in your experience as a teacher of graduate students.
Best regards,
Ivor
I agree, pour out the knowledge into our thirsty heads. We would also like to know.
Cheers
Lauge
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