Diane Ravitch on the arts

I am Diane Ravitch, I am Research Professor in Education at NY University A complete education begin with the arts When I talk about improving education I always talk about what a complete education consist of and I always begin with an addition to the basics, which is now emphasising endlessly and testing endlessly, a complete education begins with the arts and also includes history, civics, geography, sciences, foreign languages, physical education, those are the basics to me but I always begin with the arts because to me the arts are such an elemental form of human expression that it's hard to imagine having a high quality of life without the ability to engage in music, in dance to do art, to appreciate art, both of those things I think the art has so many different forms There's almost impossible to listen Because many people, particularly young people are adept at creating art, in digital forms, which I wouldn't know how to do, but I can enjoy them But I think when you see the response that people of all ages have in all cultures, so that matter to visual art, danced, sung you realize it's fundamental to us, human beings, we have to engage in expression and also participating in viewing others people expressions. One of the things that strikes me is when you do art all by yourself and nobody sees it, it doesn't really became art until you share it with others These is something that I've learned about writing that if you write just for yourself, and you never show it, you write something and you kill it with your computer, it's not really writing. Writing is what you write to be read, and not just by yourself, and in the same sense, art whether is sung or danced it's created to be share. What makes art powerful I think that what makes art powerful particularly well for people of all ages, but particularly for children, is the capacity to express ones feelings, that may range from joy to all sorts of negative feelings, which is the ability to have a format which to express them and not to bury bottled map inside you I think art creates the opportunity for a very personal expression of joy, rage, all sorts of things in between. Insist on what is uniquely valuable to the arts The arts are not a silver bullet in the relationship to test scores the arts are a fundamental aspect of being human so the argument has to be made for the arts to deny it to children it's wrong because cast them away from one of the most important forms of human expression and spiritual expression to the extent that art classes and art teachers are removed it would be particularly disadvantaging to the children who already have the least, so it may be almost form of class and race discrimination if you look around and you see where the layoffs are occurring where arts are being, time is being, reduced or eliminated it would be invariably be in the poorest communities. So I think the basic argument for the arts has to be made on terms of what the arts uniquely contribute and so I would argue don't buy into the testing words arguments but rather, insist on what is uniquely valued on arts and that is the power of personal development, human development, spiritual development, creativity development, all of these issues being, the qualities that the arts address are not address for other parts of the curriculum The arts are experience There is something in the nature of schooling today, at least in most schools, that is very abstracted from reality, when children learn about History, they don't feel they are part of History they're learning about something that happened very far away, and they read about it in textbooks and it seems very unreal to them The same thing with almost everything that they study There is many different levels of abstraction that separates them from what happened, or what is happening, or what might happen to what they are learning. I think that one of the unique functions of the arts is that is immediate, it's real the participation in arts is something that involves you and what you do, and what you see, and what you hear, what you make with your hands, what you create out of the interesting challenge in your own brain This is real, so I think that is a way of filtering through all these levels of abstraction that separate children from real life In a sense is one of the reasons why John Dewey read about the arts because the arts are experience and in most school studies, young people are learning about other people's experiences and in arts is their own experiences that they are recreating for themselves and for other people The opportunity to become a full and complete human being I think the arts advocates have to make the case for the arts based on what the arts alone can do these is a very powerful argument I think that it resonates with the public and I think that in any situation in any city in any school district where the arts are threaten the arts educators have to go right to parents right to public, right to city leaders, right to the business leaders There is an economic argument to be made for arts they are a powerful generator of economic activity, cultural activity in every community in this country, and many people moved to cities or communities specially because for the culture advantages. But I think the basic argument is about the development of children the development of young people the opportunity to become a full and complete human being and no one wants their child deny those opportunities so I think what is crucial in this time when we have our leaders at both sides of the ails, republicans and democrats, obsessed with testing, obsessed with data, obsessed with the very things that crush the spirit of creativity, and originality amongst young people It becomes all the more important that art educators make their argument and say our case is not based on test scores our case is based on what's right for children, what's right for young people and providing every young person the opportunity that we would want for our own children.