Today I saw a post by the Royal Academy of Arts that stated ‘Art is a serious subject’ and I almost yelled out “YES!” in the middle of a library. Having grown up with people telling me to do something serious and keep art as a hobby (and consequently doing the exact opposite), this has become a passionate mental refrain of mine. Art and design are linked, and these twin subjects teach creative thinking and fuel innovation. Innovation is what drives our world and, yes, our economy forward.
As a former middle/high school art teacher, a current art tutor, the parent of a child currently in a public middle school, and one who has recently graduated and is now in art college, I think about the state of art education in my local schools constantly. Some of what I have seen is disappointing.
- Art relegated to the status of an enrichment subject, something to make school halls pretty, and support and bolster the curriculums of other subjects.
- Middle school students’ art displayed in a public exhibition and judged and rated by employees of an insurance firm with no art background. An unfair situation for the students. Seriously, could you imagine a science fair being judged in this way?
- Supporting a student who prepared a portfolio of work for an art college application entirely at home because they didn’t receive adequate structured instruction in their 11th/12th grade art class.
- First person accounts of a high school art teacher describing their subject as an ‘easy elective’ to prospective students.
That last one breaks my heart – art teachers should be ambassadors for their subject. If you don’t take your subject seriously, then who will? Art is a serious subject with its own curriculum and there is a strong case to be made for the Arts in schools.
The Case for Art
A strong art education should teach students to question the world around them, and how things work. A strong art education teaches students to think creatively and pose and solve problems in novel and inventive ways; it should teach flexibility of thought and the visualization of future solutions. Look at all the human made objects around you – they were DESIGNED, mostly by people who went to an art college. It bears repeating: art and design is the fuel for innovation and innovation is what drives the our world and economy forward. We need creators and innovators to shape and design our futures, the art classroom is where that should start. With no place to foster creativity, our environments will become less pleasant, less inclusive, and less people centered. In places where art and design is not valued, you can see the direct impact of this on lives. It shows in the way public spaces are designed, and civic issues are tackled. Creative thinkers and doers impact our world for the better, so we cannot afford to lose decent art education in schools.
By investing in good art education, we will be arming this generation of kids with a crucial set of skills for their future careers, regardless of the field they choose to work in.
