Why teach art?

You may already have ideas about this…or perhaps some doubts (in which case maybe there is something here to convince you). The following are excerpts from several sources. You may notice they might expand upon and add to the ten rationale in the Emphasis Art Chapter 1 reading. They are intended to provide you with some ways to explore, think about, and start to articulate your own reasons for why the arts are important.

Reminder—
WEEK 1 Assignment: Why teach art? Readings Reflection Paper
(1 page; 400-600 words)
As you read the following excerpts on the benefits of arts education
Identify 3 reasons for teaching art that “ring true” for you. Summarize these (with source references) along with WHY YOU think they are important for children today.
Identify 3 barriers you see to providing a quality arts education. These may be systemic and/or based on your own personal experience or concerns.

NOTE: if any of the links seem broken—try cut and pasting into a google search.

CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE
One of the earliest comprehensive research-based reports on the benefits of arts education (1999)

Complete Report found at: http://www.aep-arts.org/PDF%20Files/ChampsReport.pdf (www.aep-arts.org site)

PREFACE

When young people are involved with the arts, something changes in their lives. We’ve often witnessed the rapt expressions on the faces of such young people. Advocates for the arts often use photographs of smiling faces to document the experience.

But in a society that values measurements and uses data- driven analysis to inform decisions about allocation of scarce resources, photographs of smiling faces are not enough to gain or even retain support. Such images alone will not convince skeptics or even neutral decision-makers that something exceptional is happening when and where the arts become part of the lives of young people.

Until now, we’ve known little about the nature of this change, or how to enable the…