Why Ignore Arts Education In Our Reforms?

By Harold M. Williams

It is difficult to imagine a human society without the arts. The arts define what we mean by civilization. They are part of the foundation and framework of our culture. As a universal language through which we can express our common aspirations and experiences, the arts are a channel to understanding and appreciating other cultures. As the language of civilization----past and present---they are a record of and a means of expressing our imagination and feeling. They link us to our own creative powers and to each other.

It seems fair to ask then, if the arts occupy such a central role in human life, shouldn't they have a central place in education? If we do not teach our children to look and understand what they see, haven't we failed to prepare them for contemporary life and provide them with a complete education? If a purpose of education is to ensure the continuity of our democratic system and its values from one generation to the next, then why aren't we teaching the things that bring us closest to the core of our cultural experience?

In 1988, the National Endowment for the Arts released the results of a study on arts education that had been two years in the making, "Toward Civilization: A Report on Arts Education." The report defines four purposes of arts education: to give our young people a sense of civilization, to foster creativity, to teach effective communication, and to provide tools for the critical assessment of what one reads, sees, and hears. Its assessment of our present state was that "basic arts education does not exist in the United States today." The situation has been exacerbated by the "back to the basics" movement and the budgetary crisis confronting many school districts, causing many schools to cut back on what they consider to be...