Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Pay-to-Play Policies for High School Theatre Programs are Problematic
OnStage: Chances are you've probably never heard of Harford County, MD or the people that live there. But this coming Monday night, I'd like for you to keep them in your thoughts because theatre students there will be fighting to save their drama program from a grossly unfair policy that's being imposed on them. The policy is what is known as "Pay-to-Play". It's where students will have to pay a fee in order to participate in certain school activities. These policies are mostly imposed on school athletic programs, but in some areas, they have been placed on school theatre and music programs as well.
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3 comments:
In my life, I have yet to go to a school where theater was not an option as an extracurricular activity. Sure, perhaps the programs were not the best, but the schools always made an effort to get students involved in the production. Arts have always been apart of my life, and I can’t imagine it not being apart of it. The fact that some people have to pay for the ability to participate in theater hurts me. It is better than students who do not even have the option, but like the article said, for many, the cost of it means that they won’t be able to participate. The argument that athletics have to pay for the ability to play is kind of dumb, because even if students didn’t have to pay to participate, most athletes pay for other parts like their supplies anyway. Requiring students to pay to participate in theater can lead to the theater program disappearing all together, which is a disservice to everyone.
This article greatly shines a light on what is sadly, not a surprising or unheard of problem in many schools across the country. In my own city of Los Angeles, I know of countless schools that have had to cut programs like theatre, sports, and even any semblance they had of a visual arts program. Many leaders on school boards, city boards, etc. are not fortunate enough to know and see that arts programs, especially theatre, help kids learn and grow in ways they never could without the experience. In my own time as a kid in a high school theatre program, I have learned the obvious skills needed to function on a costume crew, run crew, and costume designer, but I have also learned how to look at the world with a more creative and innovative eye that will lead my to college within the next year and hopefully on to a successful career. If I did not go to a school with the program I am extremely lucky to be a part of today, I would be on a totally different path and be without the amazing support system of my peers and mentors that I get to learn from and work with everyday. Theatre teaches kids how to work as a team in a way that sports cannot. When you are a part of a production, there is no room for an egotistical attitude; everyone is doing their best at each individual job to work towards the same exact goal of putting on the best show for an audience. No one does high school theatre for the glory, there is no "winning" in being part of a theatre program. Making it impossible for kids to have the experience they would have in working in a theatre at such a young age disables them from so much more than just an extracurricular activity, a fact that hopefully more people in school leadership positions will increasingly consider.
This issue effects me. Not just because Im some theatre kid that thinks this is unfair from across the country. I live in this county i go to harford county public schools. Im so frustrated, the week before this we went to the board to fight keeping swimming as the board tried to cut that my only sport i did. The next week i found out they were coming for the theatre and i was done tired of fighting to keep my activities. I was there fighting this cause and its so frustrating how we won swimming but lost this one. The board doesn't understand what we do in harford county they never come to shows never ever come to swim meets yet they feel like they can just cut are programs. Oh no ones going to notice well they were wrong we fought gave it everything we had. We lost because for some reason we need to pay 100 dollars per show when non of the money is coming back to us. Where paying for money that we will never see. Theatre have saved so many people in my county and if you watched the board meeting you heard the heart breaking stories, real people, real struggles. These people may not have been here if they didn't have theatre and making kids pay 100-300 dollars a year for each kids to do theatre is insanity. The arts will take any one in my school and people not being able to do that breaks my heart. Theatre is my life it inspires me and the fact that kids next to me may not get that experience frustrates me. Some may say we lost and that the fights over well let me tell you its not. WE will not take no as an answer we will fight till the end for something that means so much to us. Harford county drama kids are a family and will always stand by each other side and were all in this battle together. Im just upset that the board of education doesn't see that, maybe if they were out in the community more they would get it. See what drama does for kids instead of making decisions based on money. They never gave us a chance to fight they passed this with out letting the county aware of what they' were doing they never gave us a chance to fight we had to beg them to rethink it and they didn't change. Maybe one day the arts will win, maybe one day but unfortunately the board won't allow that day to be today.
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