Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Art in the curriculum
One of my favorite Jazz pianist Bill Evans stated once "my creed for art is that it can show you a part of yourself that you wouldn't have known existed...". I think the decision to put art and physical education in public schools has helped to better engage and interest children as well as helping them to discover things about themselves and the world a little better. Greene spoke of this in her article p.562 ''Again, do you cherish the arts because they seem to you to bring you in touch with something transcendent, even some universal value, something that moves you to aspire, to strain upwards, beyond yourself?", yes what a great statement that holds much truth. Throughout history art has served to tell stories of all kind, political, religious, wrongs and rights, do and don't, and even praise for important people, I can think of many. These works of art help to translate the actions or words of the event into visual pictures and/or a musical poem to others that perhaps wasn't there or didn't hear about it. I believe that art is just another highly sophisticated language to be spoken. If we want our students to continue to reach higher and higher we must help to foster their imagination and creative sides also, not just academically.
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I concur with your point of view. Art, in my opinion, is necessary in our schools. I am an advocate of supporting programs relating to the arts and hate to see programs cut due to budgets (or lack of budgets). I am a believer that art enhances the core curriculum and does foster academics. Incorporating the arts allows students another avenue to express their imagination and to view processes, assess situations and reach beyond personal limits. Art therapy is a respected field in and of itself to assist individuals in yet another realm of learning and/or healing. Green views art as being able to express yourself in different languages. This can be done through dance, music, and imagery – the arts! In order to live in our society, students must be well-informed adults that can live in our democracy and think through an ability of personal reflection. Incorporating the arts into the schools will ultimately allow for citizens that have a mix of sensitivities and educational abilities as well as enhance the individual’s necessity for personal reflection. In her own words, "I grew up in a family that discouraged intellectual adventure and risk," Maxine Greene wrote in a 1998 autobiographical essay. "To me, the opera and the Sunday concerts in the Brooklyn Museum Sculpture Court and the outdoor concerts in the summer were rebellions, breakthroughs, secret gardens. Since the age of seven, of course, I was writing." (http://www.edutopia.org/maxine-greene) We need the secret gardens to remain for our students.
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