We certainly focus on having students be able to think, but we don't focus on design (and of course there are a hundred schools that do). But that said, our students continuously surprise me with their own cultural sensitivity even to very weird art despite only minimal exposure to classic art of any kind. I think growing up in NYC is a big part of that. And we've had students go off to pursue traditional MFA's.
It's interesting I've also come to realize--after 20 years in a public inner city school--that there is a class/privilege
element to this whole thing as well. Many of our students are poor and/or immigrants, who don't have the "luxury" to pursue a creative career in an area simply because they have a passion for it--they need to pay the bills. We don't do a lot of traditional
theatre simply because our students are all working or taking care of their grandmother or whatever, and can't make weeks of rehearsals. We now have hundreds working successfully in the field so they seem to do OK without that.
I would agree with this in principle if the gear was bought since about 2010. You need basic things like USB,
ethernet,
etc to be able to function in and connect with the modern world. We got one set of light boards replaced when we told the funders that we were running out of floppy disks. But yes a digital Berhinger (ugh)
console can teach you a lot.
I'm also not a lighting person but this is an interesting transition going on--there's books out now on it and so on.
John