According to a new report by the National Endowment for the Arts, fewer U.S. children are getting access to arts education, especially minorities (African-Americans and Hispanics). The research results report a drop to 50% in the number of adults who received any kind of arts education during their childhood. Also, only 26% of African-American citizens surveyed in 2008 reported getting any sort of arts education. For the Latino population, the figure of individuals receiving arts education has decreased to 28%. The question is: who’s to blame for this problem? Is it the schools?
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/02/new_study_suggests_arts_ed_for.html
These are disturbing figures. According to the Champions of Change report sanctioned by the Arts Education Partnership and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, "high arts participation makes a more significant difference to students from low-income backgrounds than for high-income students" (VIII). Generally speaking, schools that have higher low-income student populations also have more minority students. These are the children that need arts education. All children should have access to the arts and arts education. There need to be local and regional arts education advocates sharing these positive facts about the significance of arts education on behalf of all children and especially minority children.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTo access a PDF of the Champions of Change report, go here: http://bit.ly/guAGY6.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in my youth orchestra, PYP, they interviewed the 1 African-American and the 1 Brazilian kid for an NPR special. They were informed that less than 2% of their minorities are represented in major American orchestras. What a way to make them feel special!
ReplyDeleteJustin
It's sad that it always comes down to money. The parents don't have it. The schools don't have it. The government certainly doesn't have it. I don't understand why something that helps build community and gives students the opportunity to strengthen transferable skills would be cut.
ReplyDeleteOften the lowest performing schools are given the least amounts of money. I don't understand how the government ever expects them to improve performance if they have even fewer resources to work with than before.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes, the highest performing schools are given the lowest amount of money/respect. My fiance teaches at a district that continues to be rated Excellent with Distinction based on their test scores, yet all teacher had their wages frozen this year and their budget continues to get cut. And then look at Wisconsin, one of the highest performing states as far as education. Teachers there are fighting for their rights to collectively bargain. It just doesn't make sense to me that politicians bemoan the state of education, and then think that they will fix it by cutting budgets even further.
ReplyDeleteI can't answer the question of whose fault this is, but I want to post about a group of people providing the solution: El Sistema. Started in Venezuela 33 years ago and is now spreading in the US, largely thanks to Gustavo Dudamel. In several major metropolitan cities (LA, Boston, Baltimore and Philly, to name a few), pilot el sistema programs are forming, where inner city youth can learn instrumental and vocal music after school every day. The program is completely free.
ReplyDeleteFor more information, go here: http://elsistemausa.org/
Rachel, El Sistema is such a wonderful program. Seeing the results of the students in this program is fascinating. I hope it expands to many more cities here and around the world.
ReplyDelete