Education Next – Jay P. Greene
“The Americans for the Arts recently released a poll finding that the vast majority of Americans agree that “the arts are part of a well-rounded education for K-12 students.” Over half of respondents “strongly agree.” Unfortunately, the current trend in ed reform is out of sync with this popular support for the arts in education. The narrow focus on math and reading achievement is driving out other subjects, including the arts. Ed reformers may offer rhetorical praise for the arts and a broader education, but most quietly believe that math and reading are of such primary importance that shifting away from the arts to attend more to math and reading might actually be a good thing. Like most other ed reformers, I used to believe this too. But more research is beginning to show that a broader education, including the arts, may be essential for later success in math and reading as well as the proper development of civic values and character skills, including tolerance, empathy, and self-regulation. The narrow focus on math and reading may goose math and reading test scores in the short term but at the expense of the longer-term and broader goals of education. Parents seem to understand how essential the arts and a broader approach to education are even if this has escaped the highly-credentialed minds of “policy experts” trying to manage schools from afar through test results.”(more)