Back to Art School Update ... Fall 2015 Done

Fall was another amazing art school adventure with four more second year studio courses under my belt! This was my third Fall semester. Once again I am taking the winter semester off to travel, do some independent art work and ... recuperate. I've mentioned before that when I started this adventure, I wasn't thinking about art school being a physical challenge, but it is certainly that with everything from carting rocks up stairs, struggling with getting canvas stretched on 4X4 sheets of plywood into the shower, dyeing cloth and silk screening for 14 hours at a time (think an incredibly intense old-school laundry day for comparison) etc. etc. - in the end, I ended up with a pinched nerve that caused me to have to scale back for the last month of classes, although I managed to complete all the assignments. This will be the last time I try to take four studio classes at once.
The other thing I have come to more fully understand is that the BFA emphasis at ACAD is contemporary practice. This seems to mean that in the crafts area (e.g. fibre, ceramics) there is an emphasis on concepts as well as technique - which is my comfort level. However, in painting and drawing (three of my courses last fall), the emphasis is heavily on concept and there is very little emphasis on teaching technique and the definition of these areas is very broad. You could probably get away without picking up any of the tools that lay people associate with drawing and painting. I have actually been advised to check out guilds, extension classes and U-tube in order to learn traditional painting and drawing techniques. I did learn some techniques from listening to critiques and seeing other students' work, especially in one of the classes, but I do think there has been an overcorrection with some of the basics being eliminated. I do understand some of the rationale behind this approach but it feels like there is a lot of emphasis on what you may want to express and all the possible ways to do it, but little emphasis on how to do any of them with skill.
I plan to give it one more try with a painting class next Fall, but I am leaning more in the direction of a Fibre major just because of this emphasis. I am also boggled by the titles of the classes - the three painting and drawing classes overlapped a lot and entitling them drawing or painting seems arbitrary and irrelevant given the content. However, each of the instructors handled the classes in very different ways, and because of this, they were very different and valuable experiences. This is probably all sounding a little more negative than I intend - I still really enjoyed the semester and would not want to discourage any one from pursuing this approach. I think I am just sorting through priorities and trying to find the best way forward - all good challenges to have.