Teaching in College

 Why don't you teach? You should teach? When are you going to teach?

I've written about this before but it keeps popping up. And each time I circle back to this question, I get unsettled. I've had playwrights in academia encourage me to apply for prof gigs at universities. And I always put it off like 'maybe next year' because I have a deep unease about 4-year universities and MFA programs. On the one hand, teaching can be amazing. On the other hand, 90% of ppl with MFAs don't end up working in that field. On the one hand, I had an amazing education with phenomenal teachers. But I was also on scholarship at the New School and only had to pay for housing, which I solved by becoming an RA and getting free housing. And Juilliard is free, and they give playwrights a stipend. And even still, NYC was expensive and daunting. I took on various jobs. At one point, I ended up in the hospital because my appendix burst, and I was so relieved. It felt like a vacation until...I started thinking about the hospital bill. With student insurance, I still owed $10k. During that time, I was working 2 unpaid internships, 3 jobs, and writing at every free moment. I was stressed about meeting my minimum expenses and producing art that would get me ahead. I remember walking around NYC with burning headaches. My mind was aflame with juggling jobs, medical debt, and trying to stay focused enough to create art. And this is without worrying about student loan debt. Most of my other debt came from Northwestern undergrad, which- by the way- I still think was worth it.

But that was 20 years ago. Now the price tag for an arts degree is 150-250k undergrad or grad. At that price, I don't know if an arts degree is setting someone up for success or a debt trap that will force the young artist to go back to school in their 30s to get another degree in business admin just to pay off the arts degree.  I have seen some amazing artists get turned down for a Starbucks job they desperately needed to stay ahead of their debt. In particular, I have seen a much larger percentage of POC and women artists struggle with homelessness, wage inequality, and opportunity inequality while carrying their degree debts around like an albatross. And what about the dream? A dreamer in debt can be dangerous, reckless even. 

Larger universities are doubling tuition and keep associate professors in poverty so where is the money going? Real estate. Major universities have a second business: urban landlords. Big education is really big real estate, funded by students who will then not be able to afford to live in the dorm gentrified neighborhoods after graduation because their university has jacked up the rent price and stuck them with 200k debt.

There are solutions. Colleges that offer tuition-free MFAs. Two year institutions. European or Canadian colleges that have both universal healthcare and free tuition. But I fear we are running endless Ponzi schemes on the vast majority of people applying to college. What are they going to do with this degree in an post-AI world where most starting positions have been eliminated? How are they going to repay their debt? And what time is there to focus on art? And if there's no time and too much anxiety, was the arts education just a cruel joke. A satire in which the working class student can see the paradise of a 'stable working artist' off in the distance but is stuck in the swamp of low wage jobs that don't keep up with the Fannie Mae's interests rates.