WASHINGTON — President Obama issued an artful apology Tuesday, taking back a “glib” remark encouraging students to ditch art history for more lucrative pursuits.
Playing to the lunchpail crowd at a General Electric plant in Wisconsin late last month, Obama took a swipe at art-history courses while trying to persuade young people to pursue more practical skills.
“A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art-history degree,” he said.
Immediately sensing that he had painted himself into a corner, Obama kept going:
“Nothing wrong with [an] art-history degree. I love art history. I don’t want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody. I’m just saying, you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education, as long as you get the skills and training that you need.”
Obama’s backtracking didn’t satisfy Ann Collins Johns, an art professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who fired off a letter through the White House Web site.
Johns told the art website Hyperallergic that she wrote Obama to point out that her courses “challenge students to think, read and write critically,” as well as educate them about art history.
Johns, who runs UT’s program in Tuscany, was stunned to get a handwritten apology from the president himself on White House stationery.
“Ann — let me apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I was making a point about the jobs market, not the value of art history,” he wrote.
“As it so happens, art history was one of my favorite subjects in high school, and it has helped me take in a great deal of joy in my life that I might otherwise have missed,” Obama said in the 13-line note.
He added: “So please pass on my apology for the glib remark to the entire department, and understand that I was trying to encourage young people who may not be predisposed to a four-year college experience to be open to technical training that can lead them to an honorable career.”
He signed the letter, “Sincerely, Barack Obama.”
Johns wrote on her Facebook page that she loves Obama and now feels badly about the whole incident.
“What I did NOT expect is that THE MAN HIMSELF would write me an apology,” she wrote.
“So now I’m totally guilty about wasting his time.”