Many in arts education adhere to the silver bullet theory, namely that the right piece of incontrovertible research will create universal access to high quality education. And, of course, this is stoked by those who pick apart the existing research as being “soft.”
There are those who believe that “facts” as the primary ammunition of advocacy will win the day.
Of course, if you take a good look at major education movement such as charters and small schools, you may be surprised to note that the genesis of these movement emerge not out of “facts” but out of faith.
So, fiction can be fact and vice versa. A case in point here is the way people talk about value-added assessment, meaning the evaluation of teachers based to a large degree upon test scores. For many policy makers, it is fact, the education equivalent of established law. Talk to the researchers, the experts in this area, and they will tell you it is “not there yet.”
Okay, so, here’s the article from The Boston Globe: How Facts Backfire.
Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact,
quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers
at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people,
particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in
news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often
became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were
not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could
actually make misinformation even stronger.
So, Richard, what’s the upshot of all this, for arts education? Well, I guess it would be fair to say that we shouldn’t wait until that silver bullet appears, for even if it does, it may not matter.
Believe in what you advocate for. Engage in it and encourage others to do so. Be passionate, and yes, know the “facts,” but don’t expect them to save the day, anytime soon.