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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2003
Arts education:
Expendable or priceless?
by Linda Dawson
It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the
excitement of great science that we open them to the possibilities that lie within the
human spirit - enable them to see visions and dream dreams."
Eric Anderson, musician
As a young high school student during the dark days of World War II, G. Howard "Bud" Thompson hated school. Family life wasn't much better.
His father was an alcoholic. Little money flowed in and out of family coffers. As one of the youngest and smallest students in his class, he was picked on nearly every day. His hatred grew and festered, forming threats of vengeance in his mind and steeling a determination to quit school as soon as he turned 16.
To ease his mind and his frustrations, Bud would doodle during class. Pictures of airplanes and tanks would appear on any piece of paper he could find.
"One day, a teacher came up behind me and instead of berating me, she told me she was impressed with my artistic talent," Thompson said. "She asked if I had other work and asked to see it."
The next day, Bud brought some drawings from home to share with this teacher, who was one of the few he respected at the school. She encouraged his artistic talents again, telling him he had real talent and should pursue his gift. And at that point, Bud's life turned 180 degrees.
"The evil thoughts in my mind were slowly replaced with a certain curiosity and an urge for creativity," Thompson said. And to this day, he credits the arts for saving his life ... just as surely as Alcoholics Anonymous saved his father at about the same time.
Thompson's name should sound familiar. The former Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico CUSD 3 school board member served as IASB president in 1976-77 and as a member of the Illinois State Board of Education from 1978-93.
But equally familiar is the anecdotal evidence his story supplies: the arts kept him in school, set him on the right track and helped him see the value of the other parts of his life. Stories like his walked the halls of many high schools then and may continue to walk those halls today. And they are substantiated by numerous studies researching the influence of drama, dance, music and visual arts.
A 2002 report issued by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education found that the arts "can have a particularly strong positive influence on young students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds."
The influence also crosses over from personal, self-esteem issues into actual learning results, the report said. "Drama, for example, helps increase reading comprehension. Music instruction aids in understanding math concepts, as well as reading skills and cognitive development. The visual arts promote reading skills and interpretation of text."
In his study "Involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary School," James S. Catterall, a professor of education at the University of California in Los Angeles, found that students who were highly involved in the arts in middle school and high school scored higher in academic testing than students who were minimally involved in the arts.
Catterall went on to suggest in "The Arts and the Transfer of Learning" that positive reinforcement from success in the arts - whether from mastery of a musical piece to creation of a painting - may help restructure neurological transfers of information in the brain, leading to positive connections in academics. "The argument suggests," Catterall wrote in his essay, "that experiences in the arts create capabilities or motivations that show up in non-arts capabilities."
His findings also support psychologist Howard Gardner, who wrote in a November/December 1999 Harvard Education Letter that "participation in the arts is a wonderful way to develop a range of intelligences in children."
But if the arts are so essential to learning, why do school districts faced with budget problems often take the red pencil to line items for art teachers, music programs or drama courses? Shouldn't the turn-around in Bud Thompson's life be considered a priceless, not expendable, part of education?
Failure to educate the public
Bill Jastrow, president of the Illinois Music Educators Association, says part of the reason arts programs face budget cuts is the failure of the arts community to teach people the value of the arts.
"In situations like this, people consider the arts as a frill," Jastrow said, "(but) the impact is a lot more than people imagine. They don't realize the amount (of money) the fine arts industry contributes to the economy."
With the recent inclusion of fine arts in the Illinois Learning Standards, Jastrow thought his "frill" occupation as a band instructor at Neuqua Valley High School in Indian Prairie CUSD 204, Naperville, would earn some additional stature. But so far, he said, the standards have been a double-edged sword. While goals have been written saying students should know the role of the arts in civilization as well as the language of the arts and how they are produced, no definitive measures exist to assess arts education.
"The fine arts council was told the state was developing an assessment at all grade levels," Jastrow said, "but the test still does not exist." So far all he has seen are six questions at the end of the social studies assessment to cover four areas of the arts: music, dance, art and visual arts. And, he added, he and others have never been able to get the results on those specific questions.
For Jastrow, it all equates to what gets tested gets attention.
"Math scores come out and if scores drop, parents are at board meetings wanting a new curriculum," he said. "Most parents don't know that the arts standards even exist."
In order to educate people about the importance of the arts and the existence of state standards to teach fine arts, Jastrow said, an effort has been underway for the past eight to 10 years to broaden arts curricula to train students to be good adult consumers of music and art.
In his own classes, he said, people might be surprised to learn that students are not always playing instruments for 45 or 50 minutes. Instead he may have students talking about concepts such as key signature relationships, or maybe even Chinese history and culture, as he taught before his band took a trip to China.
But such exposure to theory and integrated learning doesn't exist everywhere, especially in districts where students can go from fifth grade through high school and never have an arts class of any kind.
"The notion that the arts are peripheral and not part of the basic curriculum is nonsense," Thompson said. "The arts are very much a basic area of learning and have a large impact on the learner's entire education.
"The arts are vital in developing the ‘whole' person," he continued. "And that curiosity and creativity stays with a person his or her entire life."
Difficult decisions
Even though the arts may be one of the first areas to consider for budget cuts, the decision is often a difficult one.
Faced with a looming deficit for 2001-02, Collinsville CUSD 10 took a serious look at each and every department, according to Superintendent Dennis Craft. Nothing was considered sacred, including athletics.
"That was a very hard decision to cut anything," added Bill Ellis, board president, but part of the decision ended up out of their control. A K-3 art teacher resigned mid-year, and the district couldn't find a replacement.
By the time a petition came before the board to reinstate the position, the board had its budget back in balance and was able to accommodate the request.
Craft said looking at all departments and making each one take a "hit" is a far cry from moves 30 years ago when budget cuts forced districts to abolish entire programs. "That got people's attention," he said. "We're not to that point yet."
With more and more districts looking at deficit spending, that point may be closer than some would think. And by the time talk of such cuts begins, it's often too late already.
"When you're at the school board meeting talking about cuts, you're already standing at the end of the plank," Jastrow said. That's when fine arts staff has to hold its collective breath and hope that the district has created policies and a culture that will support the arts even through the lean times.
One district that has taken a proactive position on arts education is Macomb CUSD 185. Because the district believes it is educating all students for success, it has embraced the value of students becoming actively engaged in vocal or instrumental music, art, theater and dance.
"Public education has a responsibility to teach children beyond reading, writing and arithmetic and to give every child an opportunity to experience the arts," said Fran Karanovich, Macomb's superintendent. "With declining fiscal resources we must, as educational leaders, remember that the arts provide educational climates and learning opportunities that meet the needs of some students that cannot be met in a ‘textbook only' world of school."
Macomb board vice president Bill DeJong reiterated that responsibility, saying, "If young people are deprived of the opportunity to learn and participate in the arts - music, visual arts and theater - they have then not had the exposure which can provide the satisfaction, fulfillment and enrichment that these areas can bring to the lives of all citizens."
Engrained in policy
According to "Gaining the Arts Advantage," a study by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership, "The single most critical factor in sustaining arts education in their schools is the active involvement of influential segments of the community in shaping and implementing the policies and programs of the district."
To assure that arts education remains a viable part of student learning, districts need to establish policies that encourage all students to succeed and then give them the opportunities to do so. That will mean structuring a curriculum that addresses the Illinois Learning Standards in the area of fine arts as well as finding a way to assess those standards.
Jastrow has seen a marked shift from educating and "culturalizing" a student as a whole for all aspects of adult life to a more narrowed education for purposes of moving into the workplace. "As budgets tighten, the ‘education of the whole' programs that should be available to and required of all students become expendable," he said.
"When school boards and administrators start to look at cutting the fine arts, in all likelihood they are viewing the arts as an entertainment industry," Jastrow said. "For a brief moment, we all need to focus on what our lives would be like without the arts.
"No quality music. No quality theater or television. No creative design in fashion, furniture, landscaping, housing, automobiles, etc. No quality literature. No quality photography or artwork. No sculptured cows in Chicago.
"Then we need to take a second moment to consider what our lives would be like if everyone could appreciate the music of Mozart, Sousa, Ellington, Gershwin and Buddy Holly as much as those who have received an education in music. Or what our lives would be like if everyone appreciated the architectural beauty of a skyline, the pieces in an art museum, the dancers in a ballet company or the actors in a theatrical production as much as those who have received an education in architecture, art, dance and drama.
"Which life would we most want to experience?"
To assure that arts education doesn't become expendable, Jastrow believes that teachers in the arts as well as artists in professional organizations need to do a better job of educating boards, parents and communities about what art is, what it can be and the processes by which good art teachers function.
"We need to be able to say, ‘This is what should be happening in your classroom. This is what kids should be learning,'" because often those people who make the critical decisions don't know how to recognize good from bad when it comes to arts education, he said.
"We need to educate people before the budget issues become a problem," Jastrow said. "Everyone just sort of assumes science or math is a valuable part of a student's education. Why isn't that assumption made for other aspects of the curriculum?"
It follows, also, that what schools are held accountable for is what gets measured and what is retained in the curriculum.
"If we could have accountability in French scores, good athletics and music, those would get assessed," he said. "If we had a valid test, then certainly the arts wouldn't be such an easy target."
Finding a way to support the arts
So how does a district find a way to afford arts education even in the midst of budget problems? That in itself demands creativity.
At some schools, booster clubs step up to help with funding to retain arts programs. Others apply for grant money or create partnerships with community arts organizations or foundations to supplement their budget.
Still others, like Eldorado CUSD 4, come up with something more innovative.
Classroom teachers were left to fend for themselves in art instruction when an art teacher position was eliminated at Eldorado Elementary School a few years ago. This year, however, according to The Daily Register in Harrisburg, high school art students involved in an independent study unit began traveling to the elementary school to work on special projects.
Whatever the way, the school board can be a starting place by encouraging community partnerships or innovative thinking through a policy framework that supports the arts. "Gaining the Arts Advantage" listed the following as important indicators for boards serious about supporting arts education:
Hiring a superintendent who has a shared vision for arts education also is critical for successful implementation and stability of any program.
The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education also offers the following recommendations for school board leaders who want to promote arts education:
Without the arts, are students shortchanged?
"Success for all students" is the goal of school districts. But what impact might a budget decision to cut arts programs have on the future success of a student? Consider this story shared by Bill Jastrow, president of the Illinois Music Educators Association:
As a band instructor at a suburban Chicago high school, Jastrow noticed that a young man who had been a talented musician in eighth grade had not signed up for band as a freshman. After talking with the student over the summer, he learned that the boy's parents wanted him to concentrate on his academic subjects in high school so that he could pursue their dream for him to become a chemical engineer. Jastrow offered the boy a chance to come to marching band practice for the two weeks before school, with no obligation to participate.
By the time school started, Jastrow said, the boy had convinced his parents that he should continue in band. As a senior, this young man won the prestigious Chicago Symphony concerto competition, played with the symphony and also earned a $10,000 college scholarship. He went on to major in music, earning two advanced degrees, and now teaches music in addition to playing professionally.
On a more personal note, Jastrow also shared this:
When his son attended orientation for new students at the University of Iowa, the director of admissions asked the assembled students a question: "Do you know why you are here?"
He went on to explain to the students that they were all in the top quarter of their graduating class, had all taken honors classes and earned A's and B's.
"How did we select you? You were involved in the arts, athletics or community activities. You are the good students-plus."