On Creative Writing Programs

There have been a range of disagreements among authors over the years as to the usefulness of creative writing programs, with all their flaws. Mark Twain was famous for hating them, as he hated most everything, whereas some of the newer writers don't seem as opposed. 

So what's the deal? Will all creative writing teachers truly squash your creativity into the tiny box of their own taste? Probably not. I'd like to think that especially the graduate programs have evolved past that. 

If they are safe for writers, than what is the source of trepidation? Does it spout from that unspoken fear that entering a program is a subconscious admittance that your own ideas aren't good enough? That you aren't talented enough, and that you only hope to be published based off of the memorization and application of taught form? Probably. Is it true? Humph. 

I suspect that the true answer to this question cannot be found without first completing a Master's Degree. It's sort of like trying to figure out if you are allergic to peanut butter by reading the jar. But is it worth the risk? Will it be worth it to expend the time and effort (not to mention the great expense) for an unknown reward? Or, *gasp*, possibly for great detriment? 

I don't know, but I suppose I am going to find out. At worst, I hear they force you to write a whole lot, and to read your material out loud in front of an audience. That should at the very least quell my fear of public humiliation. Anyways, a fear of education is silly.  As you cannot lock your children in basements to preserve their purity, you also cannot prohibit yourself from learning anything because you are afraid of the results the knowledge may bring. If I don't approve of the writing methods that they may of may not teach me, I have to trust that I am intelligent enough not to be magically and subconsciously bound by those methods. 

Sometimes I that publishing houses would include an author's education on the book jackets. While I think it's great that the author is happily married, and living with their 12 dogs and 8 parakeets on a farm in Nebraska, it would be quite helpful to note that they received a Master's degree from Princeton.