Art definitely belongs among core disciplines

I quit the teaching business on the last day of August 2013. Retired. I closed the door behind me. I was done with it, and I am. Except for this…

Near the end, public school teachers were being introduced to Danielson training, the current educational reform obligation. Mandatory nutshell versions of how curriculum should develop were packaged up in two days of meetings. It was an expensive waste of time for training that every professionally certified teacher should already know.

Educational learning examples are always formulated around only math, science and English. I championed art education as core, the only part of "No Child Left Behind" I agreed with.

Art education is required core curriculum, written into law. The architects of public education here in Hawaii paid no attention. The U.S. secretary of education announced this in a directive that seems to have never made it beyond the schools superintendent’s office.

Years passed. I couldn’t fathom the reluctance of the state Department of Education to recognize new gateways for students to understand how to learn.

In art, because a student doesn’t have the same talent as someone more gifted, it doesn’t mean he or she can’t have perhaps an even greater appreciation for it. Art education shows students how learning develops through process, which provides learning skills that can be utilized in all subjects. The discipline demands being on time and maintaining solid attendance. It demands participation, preparedness, completing all assignments and being able to create a finished product. It demands basic elements students need to self-actualize their educational goals. It’s learning that applies to every child.

Students are unsure of their creative ability; the real mystery has yet to be unlocked. They are steered into basics, the fundamental hows and whys needed to advance, and most always want to advance. Until they learn the basic rules of working in an art studio and gain an appreciation of the hard work it takes to create, the juices won’t flow. Like learning the importance of time allocation, something that must take place before students lift a brush.

Imagine the time it takes just to learn preparing to paint. Arrange the palette; what colors? How much paint? What tools? How much time for actual work? Drying time? Cleaning up and putting things away? Step-by-step procedures over and over again. Art might be subjective, but improvement is still measureable. The ability to create a positive student work ethic for learning through arts education is a good idea.

Finally, my teaching beliefs and I were forced out by absurdity. Rules that eliminate basic tenets of education: No one fails. No grading homework. Spelling doesn’t matter. You can’t grade tardiness, absenteeism or bad behavior. Students break laws and get suspended, teachers must provide homework.

The burden of intimidating demands coupled with the threat of punitive measures in the workplace is not productive. Teachers and their profession have been undermined by those in charge, who created an educational community stuck in the mire of political agendas. Change for the sake of change doesn’t work.

Ultimately, children pay for this great disservice. New learners actually thrive on discipline. Hawaii public schools offer little or none. Public school students are mollycoddled and squished through a system riddled with multilevel bureaucratic problems.

A sage educator warned, "Beware of what you say art can do. Educational leadership will hold arts education accountable to demands that diminish rather than enhance the creative process."

Art education instruction holds hands with all core disciplines. Visual arts stimulate learning, illuminate history and affect society and culture. Everyone thinks art is frivolous and has no place in serious learning. That couldn’t be further from the truth.