Higher Ed's Big Lie

[Don Dresden]

Speaking of Rolling Stones, it's sad to see Mick Jagger having wasted his life after dropping out of the London School of Economics.

Keith Richards attended Sidcup Art College (now defunct), along with original Stones’ bassist Dick Taylor.  

Charlie Watts attended Harrow Art School (now part of the University of Westminster).  Apparently went there four years and had a real job as a commercial artist before joining the band, but I can’t find any mention of a degree.  

Ron Wood attended Ealing Art College (now part of Thames Valley University), also apparently for four years although no mention of any degree earned.  Yes, same place attended by Pete Townshend.  

"The art schools from my time specialised in old-school teaching methods of brutalising your students with some wild thinking that was off the map," remembers Pete Townshend, whose lecturers at Ealing College of Art included Gustav Metzger - his concept of auto-destructive art inspired Townshend to smash up his guitar - and Roy Ascott, whose theories on cybernetics predicted the internet. "I remember Roy looking at me in a lecture and saying: 'It's a pity that the only person in this room who has the slightest inkling of what I'm talking about is such an idiot.' Fucking genius, Roy Ascott."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/19/art-schools

As you suggest, Dennis, something about “attending” seems to inspire greater achievement than actually “graduating.”

Interesting that economics major Jagger achieved what might be considered a more distinguished academic career (i.e., dropping out of a better college, and the only non-arts major) than the others.  Consistent with one of the points of the original article, Jagger’s father and grandfather were both teachers, and his mother was active in local politics.  By comparison, Richards’ father was said to be a “factory labourer,” Watts’ father was a “lorry driver,” and Wood’s family described as “’water gypsies’ (river/canal barge operators).”  

If “art school” is considered more akin to “trade school” than “higher ed,” perhaps the message for working class students really is that it’s better to spend your tuition money on trade school and get a job where you can earn a living, rather than being an unemployed college grad with a back-breaking student loan debt.