I've been reading the discussion around this query with rather mixed emotions. I come from an art background, not museums, and the issues around professionalization are very different for the two fields. 30 years ago, few "fine" artists were academically trained. There were plenty of good artists to go around and the economic (read, stakes in the game) were very different than they are now. Art schools blossomed from the late 60s through the 80s and cranked out unprecedented numbers of artists with MFAs (the arts' terminal degree). This wholesale professionalization is not an unmixed blessing to the field. The implications there are another discussion altogether, but I can't help but think of it as I hear about more and more museum studies graduate programs cropping up. I received an MFA and have not an iota of regret. It was a blissful two years of making art, reading and writing. What an astounding luxury! I can only imagine that a comparable experience would be had by someone in a museum studies program. But how that experience translates into the "commonwealth" I am stumped. The economics of the situation, for the student, present a dubious picture. How much debt will be incurred for this PHD? What will the earning potential be at its completion? How will the fact that more and more such degree holding job seekers are entering the market effect this equation? Has anyone attended a CAA conference lately? The meat market aspect is jaw dropping. It is cruel and dehumanizing for the seekers and employers alike. The AAM conference is downright homey by comparison. Clearly there are structural and catagory differences that make such comparison a risky enterprise, but one thing stikes me. The process took place in the arts with no real discourse about what it means, for the individuals entering, the institutions providing the workplace, the amorphous thing called the "field" in general, etc. In fact, it happened with little consciousness whatsoever, like some geologic phenomenon. We do have an opportunity do address what this process should look like and what, collectively, could be some of the outcomes (I have no illusions about the ease or even civility of such a discussion...screaming and shouting is not entirely without merit) Any thoughts? Aaron Goldblatt Please Touch Museum 210 N. 21st Street Phila. PA 19103 (215)963-0667 v (215)963-0424 f [log in to unmask]