My son was studying graphics & advertising at St Martins.
He’d just finished his second year and had one more year to go.
We were talking about how to spend the summer holidays.
I said, “If you’re smart, you’ll act as if you’ve already graduated and need a job in advertising.
You’ll spend the summer trying to get a job.
You won’t get one of course, but in failing you’ll learn how tough it is.
And you’ll learn what you need to do in your final year in order to get a job when you do graduate.
So you’ll be a year ahead of everyone else.”
I told him I’d Xeroxed my portfolio and mailed out 50 copies to get my first job.
He thought he had a better idea than that.
He made a website and emailed out 600 copies, CDs and ECDs.
Most people deleted it unread of course.
But from that he got 5 placement offers.
One of those was with Ed Morris, who was ECD at Lowe.
After a month on placement, Ed offered him a job: result.
But when college started again, my son wanted to finish his degree.
So I said why not do both, see if you can work it out with Ed.
He said to Ed, “I get 3 weeks holiday a year. Instead of taking it in one lump, can I take half a day off a week instead?
That will allow me to go into college for the weekly crit.”
Ed said fine, as long as he still did all the agency work.
But after a few months, his college found out he was working and gave him an ultimatum.
Either he had to quit the job or he had to quit college, he couldn’t do both.
He said to me, “What do I do Dad?”
I said, “Well, what’s the purpose of going to college?”
He said, “To get a job.”
I said, “Okay, you’ve got a job, so why do you need college?”
He said, “Well after all this work, I’d like to get my degree.”
I said, “Okay, then think creatively, go and talk it over with Ed.”
Like all creatives, Ed doesn’t like being told what to do by people in authority.
Ed said, “Fuck ‘em. Take as much time off as you need, as long you do all your work here.
Tell them you’ve quit the job, and if they ask me I’ll back you up.”
And that’s what happened.
He told his college he’d quit the job.
College work isn’t nearly as tough as real work, and he was able to do it at weekends.
Meanwhile, to pay Ed back, he worked harder than ever on agency work during the day and evenings.
He kept the job and he got his degree.
But I think something much more important than that.
He learned how not to let other people write your agenda for you.
He learned how to out-think people and situations.
He learned that creativity is about taking an advantage of people who are sticking rigidly to the letter of the law.
He got an education in the real world not just the college world.
Getting a result instead of just ticking boxes.
He got an education in real creativity.
Your son’s flexibility and Ed’s being plastic made an interesting story for me. In real life, it’s wonderful when we can choose both instead of making sacrifice something for something else. If we can find creative solution to work v marriage, personal hobby v our beloved ones’ needs…we will have more fulfillment and less regret. The question is how to think creatively while the external condition is full of noise hurry?
I flunked out of college during the Vietnam War. Went back over a dozen years later and they told me I’d be provisionally enrolled and they encouraged me to take easy classes to prove I was up to snuff.
Because I wasn’t a regular student, I could sign up for any class I liked. So I took “Introduction to Hermeneutics,” “Psychology in Literature,” and other advanced courses that were all quite interesting. I made the Dean’s List.
Next semester I was a regular student and had to take the required classes. My History T.A. told us sternly that we’d have to turn in a three-page handwritten paper by semester’s end, no exceptions. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d typed a letter to a friend that was that short. So I ditched the required class and took an independent study on slavery systems in the Americas. Much of which I still remember because it was interesting and not dumbed down.
Your son is lucky to have had an outside-the-box Dad. That he got a degree is just a bonus. Colleges should call Admissions by its proper name: Human Resources.
Hahaaa
When TBWA\GGT threw me out in 2005 ( the CD was marched out that famous Dean St. building soon after) I had a beer in the Dog & Duck then went over to the Wharf and another few beers with some teams there. I picked up a freelance slot the next day and because redundancy is a process, happily took home two wages.
I repeated my A levels
Honours year we call it
I was in trouble
First time round was modern classics for literature
Larkin’s Less Deceived
Lowell’s Life Studies
Fitzgerald’s Gatsby
Honours year was Victorian classics
Dickens Bleak House
Wuthering Heights
Mill On The Floss
I had 4.5 months to read and understand 3 thick books
So I stopped attending history lectures
Heck, it’s history
Nothing changes
Not in 1 year
Plus Cambridge had given me an A
(Which is rare for arts subjects)
But my history teacher was furious
Reprimanded me for skipping
I ignored her
She reported me to the Senior Assistant
He said I shouldn’t skip classes
So I photocopied her poxy history notes
And gave to my closer friends
(Honours students are either seen as bad boys – and admired
Or pathetic failures and scorned)
While others were busy taking down her pearls of outdated
wisdom, my friends and I just ran out pencils along the notes
Infuriated the history teacher
But nothing she could do
Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of the wise.