Practical Education- Photographic Print in Four Parts.

In looking at the state of education today I am shocked by how little of what we as Americans take such pride in is rarely taught. Now, more than ever places like Home Depot cater to the do-it-your-self-er mentality (ironically it is the existence of conglomerates that own places like   H.D. that have forced us into becoming such, but that's a different story). At the same time practical, hand-on courses are being cut from budgets to cater to the remediation of the ill effects of overcrowded classrooms. To make sure that "no child is left behind" we test them until education seems shallow and inhuman. Ben Franklin would be ashamed of how far we have slipped in the realm of educational theory. Franklin believed that education should be both classical and practical, training the mind as well as the hands to make students independent thinkers and doers. In forming a plan for an Academy in Philadelphia, Franklin endorsed the the teaching of drawing as being of practical importance to anyone in any field. In making this set of images I was interested in conveying the importance of Benjamin Franklin to American Art Education as well as to the line of thinking  from Rabelais to Locke which inspired Franklin's beliefs.