During my freshman year of high
school, I took an Art 2-D class as one of my electives—I’ve never considered
myself much of an artist, but between that and automotive technology (which was
essentially learning how to fix a car for 45 minutes a day and getting graded
for it), art was by far the better option. None of my art projects would’ve
been considered “good,” by any standards—I’m just not gifted with artistic
abilities. For one project, a sketch of a still-life scene, I remember turning
it in to my teacher and jokingly apologizing for how awful it was. In response,
she simply laughed and said, “It’s okay, art just isn’t your thing.” But I
still got a 100 on every assignment I turned in—because in public school, being
mediocre in a fine art is acceptable, even understandable. It’s no big deal if you
aren’t great at painting or sketching, or even singing, or playing an
instrument; it’s just art, right?
Public schools create and, whether
purposefully or not, encourage students to focus on excelling solely in what
have been deemed “academic” subjects, and disregard the importance of the fine
arts in a young person’s academic career. Somewhere along the line, educators
decided that the only subjects that measured intelligence were math, science,
history, and English, and while arguments can be made that electives are
considered just as important because one or two fine arts credits are required
for graduation (in most public schools), it’s clear to any public school
student that way more value is placed on getting an A in chemistry than getting
an A in Art 2-D. In The End of Education,
Neil Postman discusses the reasons for this differentiation in value when he
writes, “…There is, after all, a measure of arbitrariness to the weight given
to one subject or another. When I attended public school (in New York City),
both music and art were considered ‘minor’ subjects—for what reason, I have no
idea.” (Postman 101) Postman encountered the same problem I did in public
school: fine arts have very little importance in public school. We take
standardized tests that measure our skill levels in math, critical reading, and
science, and whether or not we get into college is based on how skilled we are
in these areas. Why are there no standardized art tests? Why is being able to
read music not a requirement for being accepted to a university? Science has
showed that our brains have left and right hemispheres, the left side being
used for critical thinking and the right side being used for creativity. The
two sides work together to process information, but most people generally have
a tendency to be more inclined to think one way or another. So how is it fair
that “left brain” people should be considered more intelligent than “right brain”
people? They shouldn’t be, but public schools won’t be changing any time soon;
guess I better brush up on my math skills.
Postman,
Neil. The End of Education. New York:
Vintage Books, 1995. Print.
Works Cited
From my experience in public school, I also agree that the arts take a back seat in the curriculum. When I took an electronic music class in tenth grade, the music we made was not graded based on its quality, but wether we followed simple directions such as "place a drum roll at 3 minutes." It would be like in math class if Mr. Herold decided to grade the next quiz based on how hard the student tried to differentiate the function. It doesn't make sense. If public schools graded more on quality, perhaps students would work harder to create a piece of art versus going through the motions to get a grade.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said that every student should learn how to read music before they enter college; I find it ironic how we listen to music every day of our lives, yet most people do not know the difference between a bass and treble clef. The arts certainly need to be taken more seriously in our public schools.