School, in our current American society, has made learning so abstract for its students. There is very little connection and application of the information taught in schools. The main emphasis, with current political restraints, has become numbers; getting test scores up in certain academics so that schools can reach a certain appropriate quota. This thinking is extremely unfortunate and sucks most of the creative possibilities out of any curriculum, not to mention the extraction of art programs more specifically.
“In every culture, children are natural artists” (Gwathmey & Mott. 2000). This is true, regardless of a child’s exposure to art, in a school, or in life. Due to the fact that in many cases, art is not defined as ‘essential’, it’s messy, and uncontrollable, teachers continually have to defend its place in the general curriculum. It isn’t universally acknowledged that the arts involve a conscious thought process, which is probably one of the reasons art classes aren’t deemed essential in an academic setting. There is a truly scientific process that can go into art. Being presented with new materials, students first make observations of the materials, with their sense of sight as well as touch. Then students, if given the opportunity and freedom to, can imagine how these matierals will look when used, what they can make, and with teacher’s encouragement and support, they can experiment with the materials and see how their uses of them will actually turn out. If they are happy with the outcome they can repeat this process or explore new paths of creation, and if not they can try again using different techniques or ideas. “Even if children have not had continuous art experiences throughout their education, they can acquire the ability and skills to represent reality when given the opportunity.” (Gwathay & Mott. 2000) When a school is fortunate enough to have an art program, there generally aren’t consistently taught art classes. Some are with too much instruction, others with too little freedom and often completely separate from the academic courses. “Art along with other subjects is a means for investigating, hypothesizing, and discovering essential relationships between self and world. Unique to art is the integration of feeling and thought.” (Gwathay & Mott. 2000)
There are many different kinds of intelligences that make up one mind. Some students will naturally excel in certain fields and require more guidance and support in others. Giving them the opportunity to expand their minds, not in the academic fields, can only lead to deeper grasps and insights of various subjects, as well as the ability to make more unique and broad comparisons. Art class is also an excellent opportunity for independent almost meditative and therapeutic work. There are also many chances for collaboration, group art projects, imitation for classmates, and inspiration from others.
Bank Street is a very progressive and unique school that seems to really try to integrate the arts into most subjects. It is a school setting that treats its students democratically, respecting their opinions as well as their suggestions. Bank Street “advocated an interactive approach to learning which enabled children to construct knowledge from basic human experiences in society” (Gwathmay & Mott. 2000) The more I learn about the philosophy of the children’s school, the more ideal it seems to me, but on the flip side how contrasting it is to most public school experiences. I suppose the true challenge is finding ways to integrate some of there philosophies into a regular public school without violating protocols and procedures, and allowing those students who many never get the opportunity to attend a school like this one, a chance to become independent thinkers and creators.
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