I am a musician so selling me on nurturing creativity in our schools is not difficult. I believe there are benefits that go way beyond learning a specific art that you are studying. I always refer people to this link why we teach music. Studies have also shown that when someone is playing music, it is one of the only activities that uses both the left and right side of the brain, connecting the logical and creative side. So studying music (or other arts) can help someone in other subjects or everyday life, it doesn't mean they are studying to be a musician.
Sir Ken Robinson brings up the story Schools Kill Creativity about the choreographer for Cats and other Broadway plays, going on to say that when she was a girl, she didn't pay attention in school and was fidgety. So her teacher recommended dance school and she grew up to be a successful Broadway choreographer and millionaire entrepreneur. This is a bit misleading. What if she went to dance school and became a mediocre dancer? Would she have any other skills to fall back on?
This is what parents will be asking when more emphasis is put on the arts and creativity in schools.
The point of that story, I think, is that if the girl stayed with her regular schooling, then she may have continued to misbehave and not do well academically. Whether or not she was going to be a dancer, she need that outlet of creativity and movement.
Will education shift to emphasize creativity and the arts? Not any time soon. It's too risky of a proposition for both parents and educators to see the value in it. They must understand that we are not teaching the arts so our kids will grow up to be musicians or artists or painters or dancers, we teach the arts so that our kids will grow up to be better people
From musician one to another I agree with you 100%. I couldn’t help but think during the video, how school systems make math, science and English top priority and music at the very bottom of the academic food chain. I think once students graduate High School more of them will spend more time singing in the car or dancing at a party then they will trying to remember what the inside of a frog looks like. This is our reality but I think the way the world is moving that will change.
ReplyDeleteI think that public schools are very much generalized. I think that these days it is more up to the parents to send their children to schools that they feel they might offer them a future, it is not just up to teachers. These days parent's have a lot of choices of where their kids can go to. My parent's considered putting me in a school that raises tennis players. Even though I would never go to college I might have succeded as an athlete and might have have a chance to be rich. Unfortunately they never did, I got my undergrad degree, and still have a job that is not that great.
ReplyDeleteGood post! I agree that not having something to fall back on really puts people who are heavily interested in the arts at a disadvantage if they aren't lucky enough to become a "success".
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