ITT Technical Institute - Santa Clara

Date: Aug 19 2004
Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)
First of all, my apologies to the teacher that lent me Zardoz. You know who you are. He is brilliant, with an exceptional knowledge of his field, bringing not only teaching, but passion and style to his and his students work. Those that did any, that is… this man is the exception to the rule. Every other teacher in Multimedia either couldn't speak english, or had never used the programs they teach. I know for a fact that these books were droppend in front of them and they were told "teach". Get this. The dean at the time actually came into the classroom during Visual Basic class after a "student" complained that it was too hard for her. She did a survey (raise you hand if this is going too fast for you) and it was 8 hands out of 12. Now… lower the 6 students hands who NEVER have their homework done on time (or at all) and are stoned or spend the classtime surfing the internet, looking at their favorite bands sites or figuring out how to make a little foreign car glow with neon and gain 100 HP, lower the hand of the two girls whose every graphic project is basically a scrapbook for their babies (one girl was 18 and missed a quarter from pregnancy)… and you're left with two hands raised of serious students versus 8. The others didn't raise their hands one way or another because they were looking at the internet.

Why, then, do these students go unchecked, allowed to drag cirriculums into the ground, and skate by barely passing? Barely means 30%, apparently… and literally. Because…money. Thats it. A sinking ship whose band continues to play.

ITT does have a plus side, as being surrounded by metal shop dropouts certainly solidifies any thoughts of seriousness and commitment. My 3D/Photoshop teacher I mentioned earlier redeemed the whole experience, and I now work for a major TV station. Too bad the other teachers didn't have the same ethics and experience. Thanks BL.