A Pluralist Art Curriculum Analysis

Schools across America are cutting Fine Arts programs left and right due to budget cuts and reduced funding, which is preventing students the ability to have an equally standardized arts education. About 95% of schools in America have eliminated or reduced their fine arts program’s funding. According to a report released by the PCCY only 149 out of the 268 public schools in Philadelphia have a choral teacher and 59% of them have an art teacher (Davis). These schools that lack fine arts teachers have felt the need to reduce faculty in order to pay for other expenses. This prevents students from receiving the benefits associated with a fine arts education. In addition, two out of every ten schools don’t have a choral or an art teacher (Davis).

In Heritage High School, there exists a substantial gap between minority and white students engaging in arduous subjects, as only fifteen-percent of minorities enroll in Advanced Placement courses compared to the staggering seventy-percent of white students participating in ambitious classes. This disparity among students has accelerated the semblance of a marginalized society consisting of minority pupils, who remain futile in pursuit of academics. I seek to tarnish the illusion of inadequateness, as remaining fulfilled causes a person to not accel. To challenge myself is utterly necessary in upholding an inclusive society, which demonstrates that minorities are seeking to improve themselves. To be an exemplar in the standards of a dignified student of color. This perpetual drive of success develops the foundation of an inclusive society. The efficacy of a student's tenacity will propel the urge of prosperity within themselves. Society is solely a spectrum of colors, a pack of crayons, to not pick an choose a colors you are comfortable with, but to include the diverse, plentiful array of colors, to illustrate a painting of opportunity. An illustration of a vivid colors brimming with a rigor is the utter depiction of an inclusive

Schools and educators are beginning to understand the value of inclusion of art education in K-12 curriculum more and more each year. So much so, that many states are adopting common core standards and hiring highly qualify teachers to teach in the subject area of visual arts. “Research over the past decade reveals areas where effective arts education strategies, especially arts integration techniques, have yielded practical and impressive results,” (Education Digest, 2011). Part of what is driving this initiative is the understanding that some students learn most effectively through the arts (Robinson, 2013). Recent research reflects that art integration correlates with low-performing learners by increasing test scores. Studies conducted in North Carolina and Oklahoma with art integration programs tracked consistent gains in student achievement as compared with state and district averages

Through the recent years, school budget cuts have led to the discontinuation of many classroom and extracurricular activities, including the visual and performing arts. Yet, because of this, classrooms are losing out on a very effective tool that can help aid the academic and social-emotional developments. According to Lorie Scott, Sallie Harper and Mathew Boggan, “Art integration helps students to engage in meaningful learning as well as understanding at a much more defined and deeper level” (2012, p.83). Unfortunately, arts programs are limited to only the wealthier schools and have been eliminated from those schools for the more marginalized youth including English language learners and that of inner cities (Lorimer, 2011).

Art in our culture today is not as appreciated as it used to be, due to the decrease in interest, many people find creative arts classes such as drawing classes, and theatre classes are not as important and are useless to the educational system. Schools all over the country have begun cutting art classes from the academic programs, assuming it will be better for the student’s sake. However, a recent poll found that eighty percent of the American people believed that creative arts classes will enhance academic performance. In addition, studies have also shown that arts programs teach a specific set of skills that are not taught in the academic curriculum. This means if the studies are true, cutting arts classes could lower students’ test scores and their overall grades. Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, the authors of “Art for our Sake: School Art Classes Matter More than Ever-But Not for the Reasons You Think,” stated that, after visualizing different art classes in different schools, they realized that the students are not only taught the basics of art but also the willingness to learn from their mistakes, which are not taught elsewhere in schools. The students are also taught how to analyze their work and their peers work, as well. According to Winner, arts classes are important to the educational system because it teaches appreciation and self-value. It also teaches the students certain aspects of knowledge that

There once was a time in our society that the arts took a strong role in the lives of our young youth and community, but the stress of regulations and test requirements has put the arts in the hot seat. There is no amount of fine art that students would not benefit from if teachers consistently incorporated it in their classrooms. The importance of arts should not be thrown aside for the sake of achieving test scores. There are 6 critical reasons why communities should not be so quick to cut the arts programs and unintentionally hinder students growth.

In my short seventeen years, public school has been the greatest, most valuable influence in my life. Since entering Pre-Kindergarten at age four, I’ve been introduced to a wide and diverse range of people, opinions, and opportunities. I attended an inner-city elementary school, where my classmates came from a variety of financial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Learning alongside children different from myself forced me to develop strong teamwork and collaboration skills early on, which became vital to my success in secondary school. I learned to accept others for who they were, and to open my mind to new ideas. Public school also deserves partial responsibility for my passion for the arts. I’ve taken a visual arts course every year since

She explained that many of the projects the students create are based off of themes they are studying in class, for example third grade is looking at geometric design and creating art in the style of African tribes. Mrs. Fitzgerald explained the art curriculum is a process and each year more technical skills are added. Mrs. Fitzgerald assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the fine arts department by allowing the students to set goals at the beginning of the school year and reviewing them throughout the year. She explained that third grade is working on a weaving project and that the project has a combination of teacher expectations and student goals.

Every child is different and they are gifted in one way or another. Every child learns differently because each child has different experiences. The creative arts are a powerful learning tool. They engage children’s senses in open-ended play and support the development of cognitive, social-emotional and multisensory skills. They activate the spatial domain, stimulate the senses and improve well-being. They are a creative playground for the growing mind. Young children need to use the power of the arts to express their ideas and knowledge and to respond to their experiences.

Art educators need strategies to engage students in culturally relevant ways. Traditionally, arts education has been taught through the eurocentric scope with periodic “multicultural” lessons that do little to culturally and meaningfully engage with black youth. According to the Creative Economy Report, only 7.5% of

Supporters argue that art classes teach the very qualities that educators believe can reinvigorate American schools: analytical thinking, teamwork, motivation, and self-discipline. “Art education improves overall academic performance of students, including the common core academic subjects. Students who took four years of art classes scored 91 points higher on their SAT exams than those who took half a year or less.” The report conducted by the Center for Arts Education noted that schools with a solid arts program had higher graduation rates. The report analyzed data collected by New York City Education Department from more than 200 schools over two years, reported that schools ranked in the top third by graduation rates offered students the most access to arts education and resources. While schools in the bottom third offered the least access and fewest resources. Schools in the top third typically hired forty percent more certified arts teachers and offered forty percent more classrooms dedicated to course work in the arts than bottom-ranked schools. The full report is at caenyc.org. California State University study found a link between art and literacy. “The people who were art majors had the highest reading scores.” An art major can ask provocative questions, can challenge their own beliefs, point of view, engage in intellectual discussions, generate hypotheses, familiar with discipline's vocabulary,

Have you ever felt as if you can’t express your ideas or imagination, or have you felt limited by the school system to not follow your dreams? This is a crisis that is occurring all over the country in which school corporations cancel art programs. Many of these schools cut art classes and drama class, because they believe that they are not necessary for children’s education. Another reason for the decrease in art programs is that 95% of schools have had their budgets cut in the past couple of years, so most schools have to cancel art, music, and drama programs to just stay alive (Law Street). We need to keep art programs in school, because many students and I have wanted to learn more skills in topics that interest us.

We, as educators, must provide children the instructional opportunities that can tap on their latent potentials. I recognize the importance of student achievement scores of reading and math is at the forefront of teacher practice; but we are also responsible to create learners who have a strong self-identity and recognize the importance of their culture and acceptance of other cultures. I believe including arts-based education can help educators achieve such a

The field of education has been continuously changing since inception. All departments have to adequately encompass students into a learning environment. This conglomeration of a vast number of students into the same classrooms brings certain challenges. Because students perform on different levels, not all needs are found in basic instructional teaching. Art educators are taking new approaches in educating children with needs beyond what is found in the traditional teaching curriculum. One approach is adaptive art education, a new technique that involves art therapists experienced in working with children in different circumstances into an educational role to create a more child-focused, adaptive curriculum. In this sense, no two teaching experiences will be the same, but a child’s need is met in the most productive way. Adaptive art education allows instructors to have more therapeutic roles in a classroom setting, create an inclusion-based environment, and adjust traditional teaching methods to cater to the needs of more students.

Staring at a person across the room, you find yourself wondering who they really are. What do they do? And perhaps, where are they going in life? Truth is you can tell very little about a person from just their appearance, as it is with me. But after time it is hard to not to notice how much art is a part of my life, and what it means to me. Throughout this paper I will focus on why studio art is my major (and why others such as art education are not), then I will address the economic side of becoming an artist/ art instructor, and finally how current trends such as conceptual art are effecting the art world and my education.