Post Gazette: "West Allegheny parents continue to lobby the school board for improvements to the elementary school visual arts and music programs.
Nancy Volk, president of the Arts Advocacy Council booster group, presented more than 200 signatures on a petition Aug. 19, requesting additional staff and longer class periods for art and music as well as courses such as technology, physical education, library and world languages.
'It's time to make this happen,' said Mrs. Volk, of Findlay. 'It is long overdue.'"
4 comments:
The article makes it sound like they're making a substantial expansion, but a quick look at the numbers shows that it's not much at all. They received a $5000 grant but that only comes out to something under $5 a student, and there's no additional staff being put on to implement or expand the program. Without a new teacher coming in the existing art teachers will probably not be able to expand their 35 minutes a week without taking time away from other students. There's very little free time in the schedule for a teacher like that, and even very creative scheduling can only make a small addition in productive time, something I'm sure that they have already done.
I agree that more drastic measures should be taken to ensure that students are thoroughly exposed to art at a young age, enough to at least expand their interest and be taught how to think creatively/problem solve in creative ways. This reminds me of a program that I volunteered for last year called Mural club which used to teach art to a middle school in the hill district and consisted mostly of CMU fine arts and design majors which I think was great not only because we were younger and able to relate to student better but because we were all volunteers willing to give our time for free. I definitely think more schools should implement art programs with students educated in the arts from nearby universities because ive seen first hand how effective that is.
Arts education is one of the most important things we can do for the school-aged children in our country. Whether they choose performing arts or visual art, they will learn something beyond just how to act or how to make a painting, they will learn about the world around them and a bit about themselves. Increasing art education and making it mandatory may increase the population of young art enthusiasts in this country who will go to plays and galleries. Many schools, like this one have very limited art programs and/or do not make them mandatory past a certain point in a students schooling. As a society, art is our most effective communication tool, why are we letting it slide?
I agree that five grand isn't really all too much when considering expanding and entire subject in school. Although, any little bit would help; back when i was in high school, the inmates running the asylum downtown all wanted to get rid of the arts but, you don't really see that in the news all too much -- just the 5,000 dollar grants...
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