don’t fight for arts education

warning. this may seem like an odd message coming from an art teacher

fighting for the arts in schools might be a bad idea and it’s likely a waste of your time.

don’t get me wrong. i’m not saying that art shouldn’t be in schools. i’m a high school art teacher.

i’m saying that you shouldn’t fight for a title, you need to be fighting for a way of learning.

some art classes are great, they encourage imagination, creativity and divergent thinking. they help students to understand that rarely is there a right answer, and even less likely only one way to solve the problem.

however, some art classes are simply teaching what your child could learn on youtube, and learn at their own pace. some are still teaching that there is one right way to do something. many are still teaching for the industrial revolution where following step by step procedures was important.

it’s a new time, a new economy, and we need a new education system. we need to uneducate. click to tweet

before you go shouting from the rooftops to keep art in schools, take the time to become clear on what art in schools should look like and feel like, and what it looks like in your child’s school.

instead of just fighting for the arts, you need to be fighting for the trouble-makers, game changers. the teachers that refuse to give into the standards. you need to fight for unstandardization or the arts will never have a chance of thriving in the school system.

i know, you know that there’s a problem, but you feel helpless about where to go. here’s a place to start:

 

Click to download the question worksheet: does your school really value the arts