Week #9 - Double Journal Entry

Quote: 

“The Kittridge Street Elementary School in Los Angeles killed its music program in 1996 to hire a technology coordinator; …in one Virginia school the art room was turned into a computer laboratory.” (Goodman, pg 12)

Response: 

It has long been the habit in education to “throw the baby out with the bath water.”  My personal experience seems to suggest that educators are willing to try new and different things, but they do that at the expense of what they know is working.  I’m reminded of a phrase that was often heard on TV back in the 70s, “I don’t understand “new” math.”  Over time the phrase “new math,” has come to be synonymous with change for the sake of change.  Educators have often been quick to try new things at the expense of tested methods. 

Even as studies show that not all students learn the same, many schools in the 90s were quick to jump into computers at the expense of the Arts.  It was often felt that to be on the cutting edge something had to give.  That something was often the Arts.  How sad.  Just as all students are not destined to be literary greats or math wizards, not all students will excel with technology.  Why is it so difficult to understand that education should be multi-leveled and multi-disciplined?

 

Resource:

The Art Teachers Guide to the Internet / The Role of the Arts in School Reform

Watching the video was inspiring and frightening at the same time.  “When are you going to demand from education what you demand from your remote control?” Is the final sentence.  Throughout the 3 ½ minute video one sees how art impacts a school community.  There is a variety of interactions between technology and art.  It is true that the two fields can exist separately, but why is that necessary?  One should not have to suffer for the other.

The practical application of bringing art into community schools at this level is daunting.  However I believe that it speaks well to the quote that the arts should not have to be sacrificed for technology and that there is a need for reform in education.

 

Citations:

Goodman, Steven.  Teaching Youth Media: A critical guide to literacy, video production, and social change. New York: Teachners College Press. 2003.

Roland, Craig. “The Role of Arts in School Reform.” The Art Teachers Guide to the Internet. 27 January 2011. http://artjunction.org/blog/?p=2809