“I quickly remember what
school is about: It’s two parts ABC’s to 50 parts ‘Where
do I stand in the great pecking order of humankind?’ ” -
Barbara Kingsolver “High Tide in Tuscon”
My friend’s daughter is a singer. She
has a voice somewhere between Judy Collins and Celine Dion.
Put her in front of a crowd with a mic in her hand and she
lights up. She has presence, and she can really put a
song across. Offstage, though, she is not one of the popular
girls. She is shy and something of an outsider. She has a few
close friends but doesn‘t
run with the cliques. Which is why, even though she has been
cast in several local theatre productions and made it to the
final round in a local “American Idol” spinoff,
she can’t get a role in a school production or get past
the audition for her school’s yearly talent showcase.
This is not an isolated situation. It happens to a lot of talented
kids. For every child who explored and developed their creativity
under the eye of an encouraging teacher, it seems like there
are ten who were so discouraged by something that happened
in a classroom situation that they gave up on music, art, or
writing before they even had a chance to see what they could
do. Children who are beginning to explore their creativity
are fragile and vulnerable. If an authority figure lets them
know they aren’t “good enough” the discouragement
can cause them to quit before they’ve even started. Kids
are intuitive, they can pick up on nonverbal cues as well.
If their artwork is never chosen for the bulletin board, if
a teacher never chooses them when it is time to sing or tell
stories they “get it.” If they are lucky enough
to have supportive parents or after school programs where they
are encouraged, they have a refuge, but how often does that
happen? Kids have their pecking orders, and teachers
are human. When a child is shunned or bullied by their peer
group teachers can end up unconsciously affirming that behavior
by supporting the kids who fit in. They say that the students
who are selected to sing in the choral ensemble or take the
advanced art class were chosen because of their talent and
their ability to work with the group. It’s that second
part that nips creative spirits in the bud. It’s ambiguous
and subjective. Reject a kid for one reason, and she will going
to assume it was for both.
Much has been made of the phasing out and
lack of funding for arts education in the public schools. We
may be idealizing the process and remembering our classes and
teachers from
back in the day. Public education at this point in time is
about standardization and procedure. A lot of school systems
subject the students to an ongoing series of standardized tests
that are supposed to measure what they have learned and how
well they are being taught. The result is that students are
now taught how to memorize and take tests, not how to think,
imagine and create. Our local school system is in the process
of trying to create a test to measure achievement in every
subject and tie the teachers pay scale to those test results.
This means that students who do still have classes in the arts
will have to focus on learning a specific set of skills in
order to pass a standardized test. Creative exploration doesn’t
test well, and kids who learn differently or progress slowly
or in spurts don’t test well. One size fits all arts
education is not going to encourage young people. It will scare
some of them away until they are deep into adulthood and have
the confidence or get the encouragement to try again. Some
will stay away for good.
Craig Chaquico told a story of a music teacher
who left a lasting impression on him when he was a kid. This
teacher would play music for them, give them some background
information, then let them close their eyes while they listened
and imagine the story the music was telling, or even make up
their own story. That is the type of music education some of
us remember, and the kind we want for young people now. The
reality is that if this was done today the teacher would have
to tell the kids what the story was and all the facts and dates
that were associated with it. Too much imagination could lead
to wrong answers on a test.
This is why I think the most important facet
of arts education is after school and weekend programs that
are not associated with a specific school. Here, the misfit
kids can get away from their school’s social milieu and
bloom, and there are no standardized tests or lists of criteria
hanging over the instructors head. There is less regimentation,
and kids have room to imagine, explore and create.
There are excellent after school programs all over the country.
Richard Smith and his students in the USC guitar program have
developed a brilliant prototype with the Guitar Masters program,
where graduate students and faculty give guitar lessons to
at-risk kids and mentor them. Museums and community centers
have classes and special programs too. Maybe we should focus
on funding these programs and making them accessible to all
children by providing transportation and facilities, paying
instructors well, and making sure that the cost of taking these
classes is not beyond the reach of any child who wants to take
them.
This is not to say that there aren’t
some wonderful teachers out there who encourage individuality,
inspire, and mentor their students, often within a structure
that makes it extremely hard to do. These teachers are heroes
and should be rewarded and cited as role models. They are probably
taking heat from the administration that parents may not even
know about. So if there is one of these teachers in your child’s
life support them. Do what you can to help. Let your school
know you want more of this and less rote memorization. But
the way things work now in school systems across the country,
helping develop and fund after school programs is probably
the best way to allow our kids to experience the arts the way
they should be experienced - with a lot of curiosity, open
eyes, an open mind, and a continual sense of wonder..
- Shannon West
|
