Avoiding Extinction....

The morning began with coffee and conversation as we were given our schedules. We would spend the day seeing the school as if we were first semester students. We were to begin with a life drawing class. Dutifully, we rode the elevators up to the drawing studio where an instructor awaited us. Handing out charcoal and paper, he directed us to positions surrounding the model's platform. Soon, a young woman walked in, and disrobed. We began to draw.

The instructor guided us, and the model,  through several  assignments. As we drew sketch after sketch, he related the philosophy of the institution and the expectation it had for each of its students.  "Competition for jobs is tough", he said. "We prepare our students for it" .  These phrases were repeated to us often, by this instructor, and a series of others.  The sketching was, at times, unpleasant and a challenge for me because I am used to working at my own pace, but it seemed I was alone in my uneasiness.  My classmates conversed and drew happily.  I began to feel a kinship with my more deliberate students. As  I was urged to work faster, I recalled using similar phrases in my classroom. I vowed to change my ways. 

We were then called to lunch. Conversation was light and friendly; we were artists on a busman's holiday and had done all of this art stuff before. We anticipated no surprises in the afternoon.   We were wrong. The next studio we entered was not dingy or filled with the aroma of stand oil, terps and paints. It was well lit, cool and clean, a computer based design studio.  Not so confidently now, these educators sat down and heard the presenter say they were to begin by launching Art Dabbler.  Once again I was alone.... because I was not uneasy. I had been teaching my students to use the very same software!

When I related my experience with the software to the instructor, she was surprised.  I then guessed that not many of the art teachers taught with or even used a computer in their respective programs. After the session, which lacked much of the comfort and conversation present in the earlier more traditional class, we entered the elevator bound for a wrap up event in the lobby.  As the elevator doors shut, several occupants commented loudly about the computer session.  Most were adamantly opposed to the experience. One fellow seemed to sum up the feelings for many when he said, "That isn't the art I learned to love; that isn't the art I  want to teach".  At that moment a  palpable sadness came upon me. I sensed a talented group of artists and teachers with an extraordinarily complex set of skills would lose relevance  because they would resist using one more simple tool......technology.

It's simply a question of dollars and "sense".  There are no perfect districts with perfect curricula and easy access to unlimited dollars. School boards and administrators must make sense of  circumstances which pit program against program in an insane struggle to find the worthiest candidates and fund them with fewer and fewer resources.  With the public and the politicians clamoring for technology, and technology being very expensive, something has to be eliminated. Most likely, it will be the programs of individuals who run counter to the rush to embrace the new technology. 

Look, we all understand the value of the arts in education..... and in life. The arts give voices to divergent intelligences and point out markers for different pathways to success. But for many the arts are viewed as an accessory to core curricular areas and, as such, are nice to have, but fundamentally unnecessary.  When compared to the bottom line values of "job related skills" and "just in time" learning, the "just in case" nature of arts education is contrary to the business driven model common among financial decision makers of today. Yes, it's  shortsighted. Yes, it's infuriating. No, we don't have to agree; we can instead counter with a proposal that, while requiring artists to learn a new set of skills, assures the continuance of the arts as an integral part of a complete education.