arts education

I am ashamed to admit that my town just voted on a proposition 2 1/2 for our schools, more specifically that we needed an override to save the arts programs in the elementary school. Because of various budget strains, numerous unfunded state mandates and a perfect storm of unforeseen costs in the district, the school was in danger of losing the visual art, music, library, computer and physical education curriculum they have in place now. It was proposed the arts program be cut to balance the budget and an override to save the arts was added to the town ballot.
I am proud to say that the town voted for the override, even in these difficult economic times, and the program will remain intact at the elementary school.....for at least one more year.
In working with the committee that was formed to support the override, I came across a very good article on Edutopia entitled "Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best" .  There is one quote in particular that I loved:

" 'When you think about the purposes of education, there are three,' Horne says. 'We're preparing kids for jobs. We're preparing them to be citizens. And we're teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two.' "

I love that my kindergartner can come home so excited to tell me that a mommy fox is called a vixen, that he learned about all sorts of different acts of kindness, AND that he painted a flag for the class's imaginary kingdom. I want him to always have the opportunity to be excited about all of those things.

In a perfect world's classroom, opportunities to create and imagine would never be on the chopping block, but in today's educational system the opportunities find themselves there all too often.

Image: Google