Stunted Growth

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.

John W. Gardner

How many future artists, entrepreneurs, engineers, musicians, athletes, philosophers, pastors, noble prize winners, politicians, etc have we "buried"? 
"What Beth?  What are you talking about?  "I" haven't buried anyone!" 
Perhaps we haven't but "we" (as in the world) have.  We have buried our future under a mountain of depravity.  Our futures are suffocating under all the weight of this world.  The weight of poverty, addictions, money, fear, hopelessness, lack of education and so many other weights that can be and are specific to different countries and cultures. 


A few months ago I watched a docu (Born into Brothels) in which kids of Indian (India) prostitutes were seeking out a better and different life than the brothel they were being raised in.  It was amazing to me that these children knew that the life their mothers (and grandmothers and great-grandmothers) were living wasn't going to get them anywhere.  One of the boys, it turns out, is a brilliant artist!  I mean really amazing.  But living in that brothel, destined to follow in the footsteps of his drug dealing, prostituting family he wasn't going to be able to share his art with the world.  It, and he, were getting buried.  Whatever light was shining from him was slowly, day by day, getting snuffed out.  So what to do? 


An interesting thing is happening here in America.  Slowly our school music and art programs are getting snuffed out.  The "budget" doesn't allow for those things any longer.  Huh.  Can you guess what is next?  Yeah, that would be physical education.  In fact, I know of some schools in Colorado who already have cut it out plus recess!  So if "we" remove the art classes, the music classes, and the PE classes then what have "we" done?  We have buried future artists, musicians, and athletes, amongst other careers. We have buried our children and our futures under a mountain of depravity. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize."  Apparently todays' education administrators haven't taken FDR's thoughts very seriously even though he was 100% correct.  In America the depravity consists mostly of money.  We have valued money over our children and their futures, our futures.  *Can I ask, why doesn't the "budget" allow for those programs any longer?  I'll tell you why.  (Oh yeah it was a total rhetorical question!)  Because district superintendents have hefty salaries.  Seriously.  I am so tired of hearing about schools - private and public - who are raising costs, cutting vital programs, laying off teachers, offering the lowest quality of food possible, etc and yet the supers are still sitting pretty with their hefty salaries.  Tell me, Superintendent, do you really NEED that hefty salary that is no doubt paying for your sports car, huge house, and country club.  C'mon.  Get rid of the sports car, the huge house, and the country club and start thinking about the kids - for real.  We don't want any more lip service from you about how much you care about the education of children.  PROVE IT. 
Another mountain that has buried our American children is the severely skewed "No Child Left Behind" act that introduced some of the worst testing ever.  I have a whole soapbox I could stand on about this particular attempt to make sure no child gets left behind.  In regards to this particular post, the problem is that in an attempt to make sure no child was left behind (a phrase, btw, that I can't stand since it represents so much contradiction) in math and science (because by golly we have to beat the Chinese at everything) we put our children behind in everything else!  Art, Music, PE - these are vital parts of developing a well-rounded human being.  In fact look at some of these statistics regarding art education (art and music).  Kids who are able to have art education are:
* 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement
* 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools
* 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair
* 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance
* 4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem
Young artists, as compared with their peers, are likely to:
* Attend music, art, and dance classes nearly three times as frequently
* Participate in youth groups nearly four times as frequently
* Read for pleasure nearly twice as often
* Perform community service more than four times as often


Those kind of facts point to a well-rounded person.  Regurgitating math and science facts so that a stupid test can be passed doesn't a well-rounded person make.  Just sayin'.  The fact of the matter is that we have left our children behind when it comes to being expressive, creative, well-rounded, cultured because we have removed the very opportunities they had to experiment.  Why do we think we have to turn our children and therefore future adults into robots instead of expressive, well-adjusted humans?  Not only have we left our children behind and done them a great disservice but we have buried them under "our" drive for competition as well as money. 


In countries like India the children are getting buried by lack and in countries like America the children are getting buried by greed.  In either case a burial is occurring.  It is a burial of our future artists, entrepreneurs, engineers, musicians, athletes, philosophers, pastors, noble prize winners, politicians, etc.


What should we do about it?  What can we do about it?  The University of Michigan - GO BLUE! - published an article about what we can do.  Click here to read it.  It's worth the read I promise!  But the bottom line of the article is your first step of action is to get involved at the local level with your district.  Don't allow your district to think that you don't care about the children in the community becoming well-rounded, well-educated humans.  And my further challenge on this is that if you are a homeschooling family still get involved and fight for all the children in your community.  Because while your children are your future so are the other children.  So fight for them!  If your district plugs their ears and favors the Super's heavy salary and CSAP teaching over well-rounded children then go to plan B.  Search for a local organization that might be offering arts education after school or on weekends.  (An example would be Wingspan Arts in NYC - check 'em out for ideas!)  Get creative!  (After all we adults, or most of us 25 and older, got a well-rounded education in school and should know how to be creative.)  If there isn't a local organization but YOU know some musicians, some artists, some theater people ask them if they'd be willing to do a child friendly workshop once a month or something.  Something is better than nothing.  Check into music lessons, acting lessons, art lessons, etc lessons for your children as extra curricular if there is no organization.  Do something to help your children and other children become all that they can be. 

The boy in India?  Wondering what happened with him?  Well a woman by the name of Zana started teaching beginning photography to a group of these brothel kids in India a few years back.  It's grown into an organization, Kids With Cameras, and this boy attended the class and was essentially rescued out of the downward spiral he was living in.  10 years later he's studying at NYU and is in the midst of creating a positive life for himself and future generations of his family.  (Click here for the update on him)  And to think it all started with...art education. 

Which would you rather have? 

A generation, or more, of children who are "cut flowers" or "blooming, flourishing plants"? 

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For informative articles on the death of art education in America click here and here.

For further statistics on education click here.
For further information on art budget cuts click here. And here. 
For teacher testimonials and further reasons why art is important click here.
For information on how to make arts education a priority in your school district click here. (PDF file)
For Current Art News click here.



*I realize that I only present two reasons for the budget cuts and there are, in each district, many more reasons than the two I present here.  And I also realize that not ALL Super's are getting hefty salaries, that there are a few who have good intentions.  Unfortunately those well intentioned Super's are getting the heave-ho these days in favor of, yes you guessed it, the bottom dollar.  Kinda like what has happened to our Farmers...but that's a whole different blog! :)