Eugene, et al,

On 8/13/06, Eugene Dillenburg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I agree with Martin -- every institution is going to be different.  (In a
> large institution, you may even find differences department-to-department
> And smaller museums tended to have a greater mistrust of museum studies
> education.)  But in general, when looking for a job in exhibits, two years'
> experience working is worth a lot more than two years of study.

Have you noticed any changing trends in education v. experience? For
example, classroom teachers usually just needed a bachelor's in
education to teach and now they are being pushed to get a master's or
even a PhD if they are teaching HS. Nurses are the same way. The
3-year nursing school is pretty much gone and most programs are the
5-year BSN.

I've noticed that "older" museum professionals, meaning ones that have
been in the field for at least 20 years, usually have a degree in
their subject area but rarely any museum-related degrees. I think most
of that is due to the fact that museum degree and certification
programs are relatively new and if you've been a director of a museum
for a number of years, you don't really have the time nor the
motivation to get another degree. I also think another factor is that
30+ years ago, most people didn't really choose to go into the museum
field. They kind of stumbled upon it and stayed.

Today, there are tons of academic museum programs and people looking
to go into the museum field. Do you think that in another 20+ years,
the paradigm will shift to people with museum-specific degrees or
certifications who choose the museum field instead of stumbled upon
it?

What about in Europe? It seems like the Europeans have had academic
museum programs longer than here in the US. (Or maybe I just know all
the old museum academians.  :)

Deb

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