I was at a conference once, where Michelle Cahill, Vice President and Program Director of The Carnegie Corporation, and former Deputy Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools cautioned the arts education audience that their work must answer the question of how it is increasing graduation rates.
It was a blunt hortatory and an interesting moment. A good question for all the participants, and indeed the field to consider.
Today, at the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Obama outlined his vision for education, and it’s in the overhaul category.
Click here to read the transcript of prepared remarks.
Click here to read The New York Times coverage.
In summary here are the major points of his address:
- The Obama administration will make a major investment in early childhood education, including an additional $5 billion for Early Head Start and Head Start;
- A rethinking of standards to make them “tougher and clearer” and supportive of “21st Century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity.” (for an interesting piece on 21st Century skills, click here to go to Education Week)
- An investment in the development of improved data systems, like “the one in Florida that keep track of a student’s education from childhood through college.”
- Incentive pay for teachers tied to student improved student achievement.
- Increasing the number of charter schools.
So there you have it.
Where does arts education fit in? On the surface of it, you could argue that there’s great opportunity for arts education in early childhood; that the underscoring of 21st century skills is a big opening, and that a better understanding of exactly what student achievement in the arts is and how it can be measured and connected to other areas and issues is vitally important. (See Jane Remer’s recent post).
On the other hand…
On the other hand? What? Can you finish your thought? It intrigues me…
Jane
,,,the first bullet point creates a most intriguing possibility—-“everyday care center, whether it knows it or not, is a school. The choice is never between custodial care & education. The choice is between unplanned & palnned ed, between conscious & unconscious ed, between good & bad ed.”—james l. hymes 1968—-
provides an entry-point—for the imagination of this generation to become alive to something other than the SOS—otherwise the culture/society/nation will remain as is! Alive to what; a human rights education literacy—vision/frame/lens(all resources exist on the shelf ready to be applied) with which to look at life—with the ‘arts’ as the mode of expression & hand-maiden to…— HREdLit provides the youth of a society w/the rigor & habit of mind that lends itself to a sensitivity towards HR by engendering & make alive the empathic imagination(views a hostile situation & asks him/herself how can I make this more hospitable, if it was me….) which in turn promotes a high degree moral-autonomy—the sensitivity to another’s HR becomes 2nd nature.
well i guess if this captures & engages your imagination & if compelling enough I’ll hear back from ya——
gershon
Love the post. Thanks for your time.
art + DESIGN education is the key. If you read Trilling and Fadels 21st Century Skills text, the pages are dripping with allusions to design, design process and visual communications.