Art Subjects

Today I had the most horrific conversation with an 11 year old child at the place that I work. He had asked me what subjects I did for my A Levels, to which I replied: Psychology, Photography and Drama & Theatre Studies. Three very different subjects, but still quite similar and all that I really enjoyed studying and had a fantastic time studying. The reaction I got from this child has seriously shocked me. He said to me and I quote:

"How can be photography be an A Level, all you have to do is click a button? It's not academic at all."

I bantered with him for a little about it and tried to explain that it was so much more than just pressing a button, and I had to write essays for it and spend so much more time on it than I did for psychology which he considered to be more 'academic'. But it really got me thinking about the messages we're sending to our kids. 

This child is only 11 and has already been brainwashed into thinking that doing an arts based subject is somehow a second class qualification. When I asked him what he considered a proper A Level was he said maths, English and science. This is just the sort of nonsense this Government has been churning out the past few years. Our own Educational Secretary, Nicky Morgan, has been quoted in saying that taking arts subjects could "hold them back for the rest of their lives" and that "The subjects that keep young people's options open and unlock doors to all sorts of careers are the STEM subjects." 

I'm sorry Nicky Morgan, but you couldn't be further from the truth. Over my school career, I've been good at so many different subjects. When I was at Primary School, I was in love with science and was completely set on being a vet when I grew up. But from the age of 11, I realised that I had a different passion, and that was acting and drama. So for my GCSE's I took Drama, as well as Textiles, Business Studies and French, then for my A Levels the subjects I mentioned earlier. I still had a love for science, maths and English, but it just didn't appeal to me as much as the others did and still do.

If it wasn't for acting, I know for a fact, my anxiety would be so much more worse than what it is currently. I would be a complete recluse if I hadn't got into acting. When I'm on stage, I have no fear, no anxiety, I feel as though I'm at home. Throughout my extremely difficult time during GCSEs doing Shakespeare Schools Festival, and going to my Drama classes were something that kept me going. When I was doing my A Level photography, it allowed me to express some of the inner turmoil I was feeling. If I'm completely honest, I had to do so much more work for photography than I had to do for psychology. If I hadn't taken photography as a subject for A Level, I would have never had the opportunity to photograph my brothers wedding and take some amazing photos in Kenya and Tanzania. The A Level has given me so many skills I could use later on, and that's what qualifications are meant to do.

I'm not trying to put down any subject, because if you're passionate about it and you love it, there should be no problem. Study it if you want to! There's no point in doing something you really don't like or don't want to do. I think doing a degree in maths is just as much work as doing a degree in acting, or photography. I think we should celebrate that people are different and interested in different things. The world would be such a boring place if there were no actors, photographers, fashion designers, engineers, teachers, doctors and actors. 

Surely we should be teaching our children to do the subjects they love and are passionate about rather than berating their choices. If I had a child and they wanted to study all arts based subjects, I would be whole heartedly supportive. Likewise, if I had a child who only wanted to study maths, or science subjects I would completely support them. 

I still cannot believe that this attitude towards the arts is even prevalent in children. As a society we should be bringing each other up, not putting everyone down. So whether you want to go to university, want to go do an apprenticeship, want to be a cleaner, bin man, fireman, actor or study photography at A Level, we as a society, should celebrate the fact that we've achieved something and done something we love. 

I've included some of my photographs from my A Level photography coursework just to prove, I didn't just click a button. Apologies for the rant, I just thought it was an issue that I needed to address and I couldn't ignore it any more after it was brought up to me by a child, spurting ignorance of adults who simply do no understand.

Stay awesome.