Though most wish to ignore the severity of the implications of suppressing art in schools, our aversion to reality, that to suppress art is to suppress ideas is no less detrimental to our children’s intellectual development than art-free schools themselves. Art is the refinement of self expression; it is the vehicle for taking a voice and turning it to a vision that captures a culture. Art is many things, from the obscure scribbles on alley walls, to the music of Gil Scott Heron; art as life, is.
It was Abraham Maslow who in his
Hierarchy of Needs illustrated the prominence of self expression, or
creativity, holding place at the pinnacle of social evolution along with
morality,
problems solving,
lack of prejudice and
acceptance of facts. His rationale, simple: Once the basic needs are met, safety achieved, family/love established and the self realized, we can then create art, and among other things, strive for harmony. What is seen as a school activity to a child, later in life develops into a free thinker as an adult. The continued attack upon art programs in school requires, in the least, a thoughtful look at the government's priorities and purpose behind the education of our children.
For as long as I can remember, parents, educators and members of the arts community have been defending the role of art in our schools. For over a decade the people of the country have made clear, that we value art in our schools. Yet, as a shepherd in the night must be vigilant in protecting the sheep from the wolves, we have yet to see the dawn in this indirect attack on the intellectual development of our children. Why?
If our public school system is governed by our elected officials, and our elected officials comprise the government that serves and protects us, why must we defend our children from the governments idea of education? We are taxed for public education are we not? Then why should the education we pay for not be to our standards? Why does our government not protect the refinement of self-expression; the blossoming of free-thinking among the youth of America?
It takes imagination to create art. It takes inspiration to surpass convention. Albert Einstein believed “the problems of today cannot be solved by the same thinking that created them”. When asked how he formulated such advanced theories he admitted, “I simply imagine something and then set out to prove it”.
Thought history there has been one reason to suppress art: to suppress ideas. Uncultivated creativity has profound implication on a child’s future. We must ask, what have we done to achieve harmony in this world; have we achieved a status that needs no more solutions? Have we perfected the human kingdom? I don;t believe we have no more need for imaginative adults, or children who find music to be their medium for relating to and sharing love? I wish this were simply an issue of whether or not to support new lights for the football stadium, but it is an issue about encouraging and supporting our children’s imagination. It is about the future of our country and the degree to which her people will think freely. Change takes a long time, and according to Maslow, our pyramid has been crumbling, piece by piece. We must understand the evolution of our society and see change for what it is: tiny deviations from the norm.
As a benefactor of a music education, and a adventure who climbed mountains following his imagination, I look behind me, to the class of my nieces age to see who is following. I am hopeful more now than ever for the confidence is gone. I listen to popular music and look at popular art and see little to do with the world we live in. The songs Marvin Gaye sang have yet to be heard it seems. We still can’t remember what Willie Nelson meant when he started Farm Aid. There are artists today holding on to the true inspiration, that love is the first mover and life is the vehicle to express it. We must support art, from top to bottom, from left to right. We must encourage our children to create, not from technique but from free creativeness.
It is not enough to vote for most political promises never breach the ether. To stand up for our children’s right to self expression, is the least we can do, for it is clear the educational system stands for something else.
We can organize our taxes and a quantify the protion used for education and put it into our communities ability to educate our children. We can pay teachers, house them; support those who provide our children with the most valuable thing: Education. We can make a discision to invest more into the future of our,
the people's, country through true education of our children; tach about the attrocities our country committed and to this day finances; teach about the ways the native americans lived on this land 10x longer and left not a scratch; teach them money is simply a means and freedom is walking down the sidewalk not sitting in a car in traffic. We can, through organization make the educational system work, we must eliveate this responsibility from our government for it is clear, the incompitence with which it deals with the minds of tomorrows thinkers.
