“Graffiti: the Art of Hip Hop,” is now being taught at Hostos Community College, part of the City University of New York.

The instructor is James Cade (aka Jee2), who started a notorious graffiti group called The Odd Partners in the 1970s, which “bombed” the subway system for more than ten years.

City Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., calls the course offering “irresponsible.”

This is a public college hosting a seminar on how to destroy public property,” he said. “What’s next, they’re going to bring a burglar in to teach the best ways to break into homes, with a field trip to an apartment building?

Cade states students will be exposed only to commissioned “murals” so that they see “how they can use graffiti art to beautify their areas.” “I was a vandal,” he says. “That’s how, in a neighborhood with no art programs, I gained self-esteem and learned art. I don’t want these kids to do the same thing. I’m trying to teach people how to do real, legit art.” (The New York Post)

Perhaps Cade is capable of teaching students rigorous draftsmanship — the age-old path to learning to produce “legit” art. What ever happened to “Drawing 101-102”? Why, other than to conform to self-esteem pedagogies, as well as to pander to some students’ appetite for sensationalism, package courses around concepts like defacing public property?