Couldn't have said it better myself, Kevin. The defense of ignorance is quite the indictment of our education system in today's 'it's someone else's fault' society.

I had a darkroom when I was a kid. It was fun and I think the photos were better. The downside was that it was kinda expensive. You also had to be selective when you were shooting. You couldn't take a kabillion shots and delete or Photoshop the bad ones.

I don't know why Ciara O'Connor was downvoted. I somehow knew what a darkroom was already but I wasn't even NEAR one until I went into the visual arts section of where I went to university. If you don't have an experience with something, you won't really know much about it.

Even if we had the best educational systems in the world we still wouldn't be able to know everything. Some people live their whole lives without ever leaving their home state. They see those pieces of art in a text book, and only retain the info if they are interested in art. Guess what? Some people aren't. Can you rebuild an entire engine form memory? How about play a twenty-page piano piece perfectly? Run a decathlon? I'm interested in the origin of fairytales - can you tell me everything there is to know on that subject? Knowledge is relevant. It makes PERFECT sense that a kid raised in the 2000s wouldn't what a dark room is. The last time I saw one was Boy Meets World and guess what? I had to look up what it was because I had never seen it before.

*everything that the average person needs to care about. Yes, art is still done in many different forms. But are you really gonna criticize someone who's probably still in high school for not exploring all the methods of producing a specific form of art? Photographers still need to know this stuff. Mechanics, lawyers, baseball players, and high school students do not. You don't need to accuse anyone of not paying attention just because it's not their field.

That’s a pretty condescending way to put it. He’s referring to the most commonly used camera’s as opposed to the art on display. People can still appreciate things but be unaware of the process behind them just think of all the people who don’t know how to mix oil paints from scratch. Film cameras certainly still have their place but realistically very few people are as lucky as you are in having access to a dark room, so instead would have to go and actively seek out that knowledge as both the original question and the commenter have done. It’s hardly as simple as not paying attention.