One of the required projects in my American government course calls for students to create a piece of legislation based on an issue near and dear to their hearts. A student from one of my summer courses authored a bill that would increase federal funding for teaching students art and music in public schools.
You see, No Child Left Behind as well as the focus on standardized testing of academic "fundamentals" by the state of Texas frustrated this student. She had always dreamed of teaching art and music but was convinced that creativity was a luxury doomed to the low-priorities file.
However, my former student has a new champion in former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. The former Republican presidential candidate calls for a renewed emphasis in the arts:
"I call it a weapon of mass instruction. It's a critical part of education," Huckabee said during a visit to Northern Virginia last weekend. "A lot of education today has become left-brain only. All we're doing is . . . nothing more than data download: taking data from the teacher and downloading it to kids. And we wonder why 6,000 kids drop out of school every day and why so many millions more kids sleep through the day with their heads down on the desk, taking the most expensive nap in America. The reason they're doing it is not that they're dumb but that they're bored."
He added: "If you don't stimulate both sides of a human's brain, you're simply generating half the capacity. This whole idea that music and art are great programs if you can afford them and have room for them -- that's utter nonsense. It's the stupidest thing we've done to education in the last two generations."
Huckabee, a former minister, speaks from personal interest: His parents bought him a $99 guitar when he was 11 years old, and he's played ever since, eventually becoming the bassist for a Little Rock band, Capitol Offense, that has played with Grand Funk Railroad, Willie Nelson and REO Speedwagon, among others. As governor, he pushed through a 2005 law requiring elementary schools to offer 40 minutes per week of music and art and requiring high school students to take at least a half-year of art, music or dance to graduate.
Good stuff!! I heartily concur that education exists to mold the entire person as opposed to creating a generation of technocrats. This is at the heart of higher education grounded in the liberal arts.
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801711.html
I would have probably appreciated a bit more art in my early education. I picked up the guitar a bit too late to become Huckabee-esque, although I do like to dabble, and I know it enriches my life.
ReplyDeleteI heard a lecture 2 years ago by a researcher in fine arts education. She argued that there was little data to show a connection between music and visual art training and an increased abaility in mathematics. However, she also believed that they could show a strong correlation between learning attentiveness in arts education and some kind of carry over into other areas.
ReplyDeleteP.S. "No Child Left Behind" = "No Child Getting Very Far Ahead."
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ReplyDeletePhilip,
ReplyDeleteI notice an increased reliance on quantitative analysis to measure performance, personnel decisions (this is especially true in sports) and effectiveness. I must admit that I find it fascinating but I wonder if the "quants" are able to see the full picture.
This is especially true with education, in my opinion. Can we fully quantify the effectiveness of educational programs? Additionally, could we also argue that an attempt to measure how art enhances math comprehension undermines the reason for including creative programs within the curriculum?
Yes, I agree that that attempt is a mistaken one in part because it turns art into a utility for greater science ability--I support science education, too.
ReplyDeleteIf quantitative outcomes are out, then what are other good ways of measuring educational performance? I've discussed this with my students on occasion and we always come up with some interesting discussion!
ReplyDeleteQualitative portfolios. I'm very curious: what do they say?
ReplyDeleteI think Jekabs is questioning how policymakers could measure effectiveness ona macro level. In other words, how would the DOE for Texas or the feds measure results across the state or country. Good question.
ReplyDeleteMy concern with the researcher dealt primarily with her contention that arts did not help mathematical ability. Is that the only reason to pusue art?