The last week of readings for this course focuses more on the future of art education. Over the past several weeks of study I have come to accept one thing for sure: The campaign to validate art study and careers as something more than a hobby is ongoing. It is tiring to constantly have to defend and explain the importance of my field but it is something many have done before me and many will do after me. Rarely does the Math or English teacher have to defend their worth; we accept these disciplines as needed subjects to "succeed” in life, even though I haven't used Algebra in my adult life, yet, nor do I always use proper English when communicating. It's funny how an ideology, once popularly accepted as "the way" is carried on and on with little question. We are such a nation of followers. People commonly accept what they are told or raised to believe without questioning or caring to consider alternative viewpoints or seek facts. Perhaps that is the legacy thus far of our shortened provision of art and humanities programming in formal education. As Ken Robinson (2010) points out in his popular TED talk Changing Education Paradigms, we are often taught there is "one right answer...and it's in the back of the book." If school is supposed to prepare children for adult life, how can we believe that focus on these decided "right answers" on only a few accepted topics delivered uniformly to a diverse body of young learners is going to do that?
Clark and Zimmerman (1978) identify "creativity, art therapy, self-realization, perception training, environmental awareness, cultural awareness, social equality, special education, projective techniques, and mastery of communication media" as elements of arts education (34). I think all of these are elements of a healthy, successful adult life. Students are also not taught nearly enough on personal finance management (how to balance a checkbook, how to apply for a loan, how a credit report works, how to file income taxes) in school. I think the class today is called Facts (it was Home Economics when I was in school) that attempts to teach kids these things today, yet the effort is marginalized and associated with women just as art classes are. Too many high school graduates are leaving for college or adult life unprepared and without realization of the importance of this knowledge just because as a society we have decided, rather accepted, other areas of study are more valuable (or worse, gender specific). I also question the influence of politics, religion, and for profit business a.k.a "the powers that be" have on deciding what gets taught at school. I mean, who else would seek to stifle critical thinking, curiosity, understanding of natural sciences, and financial competence of its population than entities that stand to profit or benefit from an unaware, unquestioning, and otherwise ignorant citizen base? It’s really unfortunate that asking questions like this makes people uncomfortable and even fearful in cases where employment may be threatened by expressing or advocating such opinion. Apologies for the "rant" but I do get fired up when I think about the many ways our education system inhibits individual growth by lumping us all in this decided pattern of "correctness" then has the nerve to label people who operate outside of that paradigm as "failures."
Clark and Zimmerman (1978) identify "creativity, art therapy, self-realization, perception training, environmental awareness, cultural awareness, social equality, special education, projective techniques, and mastery of communication media" as elements of arts education (34). I think all of these are elements of a healthy, successful adult life. Students are also not taught nearly enough on personal finance management (how to balance a checkbook, how to apply for a loan, how a credit report works, how to file income taxes) in school. I think the class today is called Facts (it was Home Economics when I was in school) that attempts to teach kids these things today, yet the effort is marginalized and associated with women just as art classes are. Too many high school graduates are leaving for college or adult life unprepared and without realization of the importance of this knowledge just because as a society we have decided, rather accepted, other areas of study are more valuable (or worse, gender specific). I also question the influence of politics, religion, and for profit business a.k.a "the powers that be" have on deciding what gets taught at school. I mean, who else would seek to stifle critical thinking, curiosity, understanding of natural sciences, and financial competence of its population than entities that stand to profit or benefit from an unaware, unquestioning, and otherwise ignorant citizen base? It’s really unfortunate that asking questions like this makes people uncomfortable and even fearful in cases where employment may be threatened by expressing or advocating such opinion. Apologies for the "rant" but I do get fired up when I think about the many ways our education system inhibits individual growth by lumping us all in this decided pattern of "correctness" then has the nerve to label people who operate outside of that paradigm as "failures."
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