March 27, 2005
Art/Music students left out?
I’ve recently gotten to thinking about what my neice’s educational needs are, and how they are not be being met. I also got thinking about my own education through elementary, middle, and high school, way back when. Specifically what I was thinking about was how everything is geared towards academics.
I’m talking about the dryer subjects of math, science, and to a degree history and english. Cultivating a creative environment was paramount when I was VERY young, in kindergarten and 1st or 2nd grade, but as I got older, the emphasis went away from that, and towards rote learning. It just doesn’t seem fair, smart, or in anyone’s best interest to treat education this way.
What kind of people do companies want to hire? People who can think creatively! So why are we all surprised when kids get into college and can’t think “outside the box?” (I know, I hate that cliche too, but couldn’t think of any other way of putting it at the moment.) I’m telling you, education and experience in the arts, crafts, and music is JUST as valuable as biology, geology, geometry, or American history. (In fact, I don’t know how it’s possible to even try to get a good grasp of history without treating it with a very healthy dose of arts and music meshed into it to give it context. I NEVER had teachers who did this on a regular basis.)
My point is, not only is creativity sparked by art and music, but those of us who want to make a career in it should have gotten a good dose of it in middle and high school. Art and music classes are electives these days. It’s hardly ever core curriculum. My neice is a very smart, very creative young lady, but she doesn’t thrive on math and science. She needs to be challenged artistically, with hands on activities. Her classmates who are academically inclined get all kinds of advantages in that the classes they’re good at are REQUIRED, and have more emphasis put on them. Both from educators and parents. These kids are put on a higher pedestal because they’re better at academics. Does anyone else see how screwed up this is? How unfair it is?
I wonder how this can be solved. Should kids have the opportunity to specialize their education at a younger age than college? I think so. With the help of an advisor and the approval of their parents perhaps. I always thought guidance counselors were a joke. I wasn’t going to sit there and talk to them about my problems, and that’s all they seemed to be interested in. But perhaps if they acted more as advisors, just like in college, we’d get more use out of them.
Most schools probably don’t have the resources to offer the wealth of classes and advisors I’d be happy with, but it seems that this is the direction education should go in. Anyone agree? Disagree?
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I agree… And you’re getting too smart… I’m going to have to kidnap and deprogram you!timsamoff () (URL) - March 28, 2005 at 12:46 pm
Ha! But Timmy, I’ve ALWAYS been this smart, you just didn’t notice. =)Jean () (URL) - March 28, 2005 at 12:58 pm
