Graphic Design Courses, up to par?

JustinG · 02-27-06, 04:26 PM

Well, at my high school as a junior currently I am taking 'Multimedia Design' and 'Computer Science'.

I was wondering what you guys thought of high school web devlopment courses, and are the really up to par with what the student needs to learn and advance in the field.

Personally, I think they are flawed. Being into design myself, I took the class thinking I was going ot learn some new tools and tricks. Turns out we learn gradients for 3 weeks. I just feel that theses courses arent that advance enough for me to excel in anything that I dont know.

What do you guys think?

Granger · 02-27-06, 04:29 PM

The high school Internet, programming classes I've taken so far in high school have been a joke. You really don't learn a thing in the web design class that I took. However, I guess I did learn a bit in my Java class. I wouldn't say that I learned much, though.

Tim · 02-27-06, 06:14 PM

They teach technical skills, but none teach business skills which is a real let down.

I did a 2 year web development course, and while it taught me alot technical wise, I learnt nothing about running a business or dealing with clients.

Super Mod · 02-27-06, 09:13 PM

The only computer related course I took in high school was a C++ class that prepared me for the AP exam. It was "ok," but not great. I am glad I did it because it was my first formal computer programming class, but nothing in high school can really prepare you for classes you might take in college.

Trish · 02-27-06, 10:11 PM

My high school has a Photoshop class, which I took last spring. It was a really good class and I learned a lot. What helped was that we had a really good teacher that knew how to use everything in Photoshop, so I could ask him any question about how to do an effect and he would know the answer.

stevo · 02-28-06, 06:11 PM

When I was at school, all we learnt about IT was Word and Excel, and Corel Draw for graphics, on an old Mac.

Im not that old either... this was around 1998.

I dont know what they teach in schools these days, but surely it's alot more advanced then when I was in school

**Max** · 02-28-06, 06:29 PM

It obviously depends on what high school you attend.

My school, as far as I can remember, offers Intro to C++, Intro to Java, Intro to Visual Basic, AP Computer Science (taught in Java), Multimedia and Webdesign, PC Repair (with the option to take the A+ certification test), and a few other misc. computer related courses. Most schools offer the AP Computer Science course, I would suggest taking this, it's technically a college level course but in reality it's really just a nice preperation.

JustinG · 02-28-06, 06:43 PM

Well, I am learning JAVA in Computer Scienece (AP). But I just feel like the teachers are teaching course to people that have no clue what HTML is. My school doesnt have any advance programing/design courses. They have one level, and nothing to really prepare me for anyhting I dont already know.

I do want to get Certified in A+. For a side job, when my business isnt so great :P

anne · 03-04-06, 05:25 AM

I have found that school, college, and even a lot of university classes are a joke. They teach you nothing except the bare basics (the stuff most people who would choose to take such a course already know.) It is only in your final year university project that you get to stretch yourself and your skills - and most of that is unassisted learning.

There is a lot of emphasis these days on learning to learn, and not enough on practicing skills. That might be good for people, but does it really take so many years to learn 'how to learn'?

darren · 03-04-06, 07:46 AM

At high school I was lucky to see a computer never mind get shown how to use one but whilst I was a uni a housemate of mine studied computer games programming and the problem that he found was that becasue of the nature of the computing business were everything progresses rapidly the work that he was to do was out of date and what the tutors new was the old way of doing things.

I think that will be a problem with a lot of classes.