So this is a question all Art educators face; how big of a part does the arts play in our students lives? There have been some times where the arts were valued by schools, and encouraged. However, especially in our country, math and sciences have been put first due to changing technology and our desire to always be number one. However, art is an important part of a child’s life, teaching them to be creative and to think their way around problems.
In the first
article I read, “Does Experience in the Arts Boost Academic Achievement?” the
author talks about how much pressure we put on art teachers to contribute to
more than the art classes, yet we never ask the other classes to contribute to
the education we provide. My high school art teacher taught every art class at
the high school level, which was about 11 different classes, with 11 different
curriculums. She once taught three different courses at the same time! And in
between all of that, she had to help other teachers with any creative help they
needed. Thank god she didn’t have to help out with the yearbook or musicals, or
I think she would have gone crazy. One thing that bothers me is that my school
district just spent half a million dollars to pay for ipads for every student,
but they can’t hire another art teacher so that this hard working woman can go
home and spend time with her children. Schools need to realize just how much
pressure they put on their art teachers.
In the second
article I read, “Valuing the Arts on their Own Terms?” she talked about the
ways that value is measured. They are measured by “a. the individual as a
person, B. the individual as a contributing member of society, and C. the human
community.” (Pg. 1) I just love how true this is! The problem is, measuring
point B and point C is hard to do in a classroom. We can’t tell how our
education methods are going to affect the student’s impact on society, or the
community. Art takes patience. I’m sure the men who taught Leonardo Da Vinci
and Michelangelo had no idea that their students would go on to shape a whole
period of art expression, and change how art has been looked at forever.
Though an optional
article, I read the article by the President’s Committee of the Arts and
Humanities, since I could not access the first article. I very much enjoyed the
article. It talked about arts integration and how important it is to school
districts. I believe this to be entirely true. The part that surprised me was
that lower-income schools do not use arts integration, yet here in Menomonie we
have a wonderful program that reaches out to the local children to do just
that. My school district of about 400 students per grade never had the arts
integration that Menomonie currently has. It’s very important that America
embraces arts integration, since it means hiring teachers who have the passion
to teach students about art and the many wonderful things about art. Arts
integration will lead to better schools, better teachers, and better students.
Overall, I feel
that art is a huge part of a schools overall success. We need to respect the
time and effort put into the programs by the art teachers, and not to take them
for granted. We also need to use art as a teaching tool in classes, and not
just as a distraction or a time-filler. We have more on our shoulders, in work
and in value, than we think. These children count on us more than we know.
Hopefully we will all se that this semester.
