It's hard to discuss this topic without it sounding like a gripe session.  There are many new art grad students out there teaching and they have little idea what the real world is like in the trenches.

Seeing this troubles me. So many things are wrong with our teaching/learning process. I have put in years of figure drawing and anatomy study before I considered passing this information on to others as a teacher. But I find most don't care, don't have the time or just plain aren't interested, even though they crave to paint the figure or do portraits. It breaks my heart to see this. I see new painters struggling, in the dark, trying to paint with excruciatingly bad results and I can't say a thing, unless they decide to take my class. Not to say I am a genius. I deal with this head on every day.

You learn that if you teach, you have to overcome the fact every student you get will NOT know how to draw. Period. I audit drawing workshops and watch people making these little tiny figure drawings from a live model and the instructor critiquing the work. What can you learn doing tiny drawings? How do you articulate the bones and muscles on a drawing that you can barely see? The émigré Chinese here are kicking our proverbial asses with the training they receive and until we wake up and realize drawing and painting are worthwhile endeavors for our youth and invest in real training, western art students are in for a very hard, disappointing time.

There is a constant discourse on what art is and what art should be exhibited and what art is good what art is bad. I don't believe we will ever come to a unanimous agreement on this issue but it makes for interesting if futile dialogue.
What should be important is the principle that there are levels of expertise in creating art that have to be considered. Because of the explosion of instant media devices and the internet those who want to show their work now have the entire world to see it. This exposure has a tendency to blend all levels of art together. The darling painters in the local clubs are entitled to every accolade they get. But their work will suffer in comparison with work of a painter who has more experience, ability and technical facility when compared together. For those who deny this fact, they are deluding themselves. There is this notion that if you paint you deserve to be noticed on a world stage. This is happening with musicians i.e. American idol, athletes, i.e. Television now has little league games televised; skateboarding is an Olympic sport. Dancers, i.e. hip hop is considered a dance form. This is happening in every profession and sport mainly because of the internet. Unfortunately, we are unwilling to be objective when dealing with amateurism vs. professionalism.
An artist, singer, musician or athlete isn't someone who does something once or twice or on weekends or when the moment strikes them. A professional is someone whose entire life is taken up with what they do. And they do it every day and produce work worthy of being called professional. They spend their lives learning, practicing and creating work. Everyone else is an amateur.
As for the curators and museum operators, they are thinking only in dollars and spectacle. Not necessarily about quality and professionalism. They are in this only for the money, fame and notoriety. Why do you think a plastic shark in a polyplastic tank sold for $14 million dollars? Don’t put too much stock in what is good enough to be in museums and galleries. This is the commercial side of art not the creative side.
There is much “novelty” out there masquerading as art. We have to see it for what it is and put it in its proper place. We have to stare into the mirror and see ourselves as we are in the clear light of day.