Margaux Williamson

Toronto's Margaux Williamson, 29, was an art student at Queen's University in Kingston and at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and her work has appeared in New York, as well as high-profile Queen St. W. galleries.

"The argument that education in the arts will corrupt an artist is really condescending," she says."The sentiment that ignorance will keep you strong is thankfully outdated in most fields and areas of life.

"If an individual proves to be so easily controlled or manipulated by an institution such as an art school through such means as peer pressure, an arbitrary grading system, or a negative professor, I can't imagine how they would actually function in the real world as an artist."

Williamson says schools help people express their art more clearly and help students get their footing in the field.

But Elmir argues that pursuing an arts education in general can be counter-productive.

He sees school as the ultimate in conformity, in which it wears people down and then moulds them into a predetermined ideal.

Toronto's Margaux Williamson, 29, was an art student at Queen's University in Kingston and at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and her work has appeared in New York, as well as high-profile Queen St. W. galleries.

"The argument that education in the arts will corrupt an artist is really condescending," she says."The sentiment that ignorance will keep you strong is thankfully outdated in most fields and areas of life.

"If an individual proves to be so easily controlled or manipulated by an institution such as an art school through such means as peer pressure, an arbitrary grading system, or a negative professor, I can't imagine how they would actually function in the real world as an artist."

Williamson says schools help people express their art more clearly and help students get their footing in the field.

But Elmir argues that pursuing an arts education in general can be counter-productive.

He sees school as the ultimate in conformity, in which it wears people down and then moulds them into a predetermined ideal.