Arts Education Reform
Educational Reform In The Age Of Capitalism
Embedded Files
Introduction
Introduction
It has been no surprise over the years that art education is crucial to human development, and essential to children's education. Inclusive, the vast majority of people in the United States support arts education. Not only has arts education been proven to raise students' test scores in other subjects and increase brain development, but art is an important part of our human being; the ways in which we create is what sets us apart from other beings and allows us to express ourselves in unique ways. While there has been support and push for arts in educational curricula--and its importance has been widely recognized--this hasn’t been reflected equally across the country. Not only does having access to the arts depend on what region one is in, but additionally, one's race, gender, and socio-economic background can influence the amount and type of artistic presence in children's lives. If as a people we aim to support this formation in our society, we must ensure that everyone has access to such resources; the opportunity to channel creativity, expression, and resistance through the arts. Additionally, when those resources are available, we must question whether or not they are being used to challenge students and teach critical thinking, or are they being used to perpetuate racism and white supremacy?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Budget Cuts
Budget Cuts
Since 2008, more than 80% of schools nationwide have experienced cuts to their budgets. While the 20% of schools during the 1999-2000 school year in the United States offered dance and theatre classes, and 87% offered visual arts classes, post budget cuts only 3% of schools allocated funds towards dance, 4% towards theatre, and 83% towards visual arts classes.
Federal Cuts
Federal Cuts
The new federal budget, as a result, shutters the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The cuts total $897 million of the $4.7 trillion 2020 spending plan. These agencies, in which the current presidency views as “unnecessary” or “wasteful” spending do crucial work in our communities for the arts, such as supporting in-school literary art programs and giving grants for high school tutoring resources. And why these agencies aren't completely dependent on federal funding, they help validate the work that is being done across the arts and help attract private and public donors.
Opportunity Gaps
Opportunity Gaps
When testing students on their artistic knowledge/ability on a scale of 300, black students scored 29 points lower in music and 30 points lower in visual arts. Along the lines of income, students on free and reduced lunch scored an average of 26 points lower in music than those not eligible and 22 percent lower in visual arts.Boosts immune system function, reduce signs of aging, protect against cancer, and boost cellular repair. Not just between groups of students, but also regions, a student in a Northeaster school is significantly more likely to attend a school with a full time art teacher than a student in the West or Midwest--California being one of these Western states.
Capitalism & Alienation
Capitalism & Alienation
While capitalism may be presented to us as an economic system in which all are allowed the opportunity to build our own success and generational wealth, a system of “hard work pays off,” it is a system that thrives on inequality and the exploitation of the majority of the people. Looking beyond the image capitalism presents, we must see the confining and exploitative practices and ideologies that have drastically affected the way we interact with both ourselves and the world around us. Through capitalism, we are not only exploited quantitatively, in terms of working for low-wages which are driving us into poverty, but we are also exploited qualitatively. Work should be conscious, creative and social; an expression of our creative nature and our needs. Nevertheless, the way we currently “work” is a more distorted sense of the act. Capitalism has, in many ways, stripped us of our creativity, again impoverishing us in a qualitative sense. If we don’t work, we can’t survive. Yet under capitalism, so much of what makes us fully human dies every day. We are left with the idea that we can fill this void through purchased commodities.
Art as a Commodity
Art as a Commodity
Even art today has been commodified. Graffiti for, example, began in the Bronx. Poor black and brown kids struggling with a sense of invisibility--at a time where Manhattan was being turned into a center of wealth and their communities were being abandoned and torn through--these youth took to spray cans and trains to make themselves visible; a statement of “HERE I AM, SEE ME” but also a creative outlet, an art. Today, however, artists are paid to come into a neighborhood to paint murals and “graffiti” on coffee shop exteriors. The enticement towards aesthetics seems to forget that those who created graffiti were previously incarcerated or kicked out of that same neighborhood. Our artistic expressions are no longer valued in the same way. Art is found out of resistance and liberation but then taken into galleries and wealthier neighborhoods for profit.
Standardized
Standardized
When it comes to the classroom, art classes in the age of capitalism are not supported by the dominant ideology (the state); they don't "prepare" students for the work force. Not only is this lack of value represented by the ongoing fight of ending arts education budget cuts, but by the emphasis on common core standardized testing. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was put into effect in 2002-2015 to supposedly close achievement gaps. However, what it has done instead, is push schools to focus on standardized testing in subjects such as English and Math. Through the process of raising test scores, not only is the value of education lost, but standardized tests have been known to favor white middle-upper class males, creating a large gap, specifically between white and black test takers.
Testing
Testing
The standardized tests that are given to schools only increase competitiveness around institutions and student bodies, and push marginalized students further away from opportunities. Following this act, the Common Core Standards Act (CSS) was put into place--further emphasizing core subjects and skills that required standardized testing. Because this doesn’t include art classes, many schools “reroute funding” from their arts programs to these core subjects (McDonald, 2016). In many cases, this has meant completely cutting art programs because of “the perceived need to save money and use it to raise test scores” (McDonald, 2016).
Educational Reform
Educational Reform
Art education has the opportunity to not just teach art, but teach people how to think like an artist--how to think creatively in everything they do--and it allows us to unpack narratives that may or may not be familiar to us.
It’s important to include in the conversation, nonetheless, not just who has access to what kind of education, but also the quality and intent behind the knowledge. According to a report released by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2011, “students in schools that are most challenged and serving the highest need student populations often have the fewest arts opportunities” (President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, 2011, p. 32). In many ways, this tells us that art education is deeply implicated in both the production and maintenance of social inequalities. It’s important to consider that even when education in the arts may be present, the Who? What? And How? of its teaching may fail to acknowledge historical, socio-economical, and political knowledge of the arts. According to Studies in Art education, “whiteness is perhaps the foremost unmarked and thus examined category in art education,” when white American experiences are set as the norm or the standard, the racism and oppression institutionalized into our education system continues to seep into a space that has been celebrated as an expression of resistance towards oppression (Acuff and Kraehe, 2013).
"My experience with arts education has taught me a way to breathe in a world that doesn't want me to express myself as an indigenous woman. from a young age I was blessed to be able to express myself creatively--but if I didn't have that, I don't know where I would be or how I would be. Art has taught me activism, expression, community, mentorship, and spirituality. The are plenty of ways in which arts education in the school system could be improved, but without it for what it is--I don't know how I would have survived the turmoil of my home life and generational trauma. I have found lifelong friends in the arts, and lifelong mentors from those that taught me their craft.
I have been blessed enough to work with youth in various music programs, and I see myself in many of the young people I meet. To be able to provide mentorship and space for them to be vulnerable without judgment I feel is a beautiful cycle I am honored to be a part of. I aspire to be able to improve the ways in which we encourage young people to express themselves by cultivating cultures where music, art, and joy are forms of liberation"
Alexis Cannard - Artist, Educator & Student at Drexel University
Organizations
Organizations
Non-profit organizations and student led organizations are taking the initiative to provide space for learning about art, deconstructing false narratives, and empowering students to resits; using their bodies and minds as a tool for social justice.
See what organizations are kicking a** to bring arts education and activism to students below!
Girls Rock Alliance
Girls Rock Alliance
"The Girls Rock Camp Alliance is an international membership network of youth-centered arts and social justice organizations. We provide resources and space for community building to our membership in order to build a strong movement for collective liberation." - Mission Statement
August Wilson Monologue Competition
August Wilson Monologue Competition
"Through Wilson’s plays, high school-age actors learn about the American experience from the African-American viewpoint, an important thread often missing from history lessons or poorly portrayed in lesser works created for the stage and screen. Guided by professional actor and director mentors, and working with local teachers and community leaders, students will perform monologues from Wilson’s plays at publicly viewed Portland Regional Finals. Two finalists will perform at the national finals held at the August Wilson Theater in New York City."
-About Page
Marrow
Marrow
Marrow is a youth-centered community space, with a focus on education, the arts, and activism.
"Marrow" is named after bone marrow; so it’s pronounced /ˈmerō/.
Bone marrow is where blood cells are produced, before traveling throughout the body and delivering oxygen (red blood cells), fighting infection (white blood cells), and stopping bleeding (platelets). Our hope is that Marrow can serve as a hub for youth to grow and strengthen, so they can go out into their communities and provide support, education, and mutual aid; like blood cells from marrow.
-About Page
Call to Action
Call to Action
Now what?
Now what?
You can contribute and help out in the following ways...
Donate to one of the above organizations.
Apply to volunteer at a local Arts Education program.
Sign up for MoveOn.org and petition to keep local arts education programs alive and well!
Check out the following links:
Check out the following links:
Sources
Sources
Anon. 2017. “New NAEP Data: Deep Rifts in Access to Arts Education.” Education Writers Association. Retrieved March 10th, 2020 (https://www.ewa.org/blog-educated-reporter/new-naep-data-deep-rifts-access-arts-education).
Acuff, Joni B. and Kraehe, Amelia M. 2013. “Theoretical Considerations for Art Education Research With and About ‘Underserved Populations.’ ” National Art Education Association. Retrieved March 7th, 2020 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/24465516)
McDonald, Jen. 2016. “Funding for Schools' Art Programs Ending?” Funding for Schools' Art Programs Ending? Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.kmsd.edu/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=312&ModuleInstanceID=1237&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=3316&PageID=383).
McGlone, Peggy. 2019. “For Third Year in a Row, Trump's Budget Plan Eliminates Arts, Public TV and Library Funding.” The Washington Post. Retrieved March 7th, 2020 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/for-third-year-in-a-row-trumps-budget-plan-eliminates-arts-public-tv-and-library-funding/2019/03/18/e946db9a-49a2-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html).
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, 2011, p. 32 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED522818.pdf
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