Okay, a bit of a rant this week, and I want to begin with a quote from John F. Kennedy: “The life of the arts is far from being an interruption, a distraction in the life of a nation, it is close to the center of a nation’s purpose — and is a test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”
With THAT in mind, who in the HELL decided that “STEM” should be the focus of our schools to the forsaking of all else? I agree that “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math” are important, and I even agree that each should have GREAT programs in our High Schools, but it seems “ART” has been relegated to the “if there’s time or money” category of education.
BY ALL MEANS, teach the STEM classes to those students who excel at them, but what about the BRILLIANT creative class? What about our future Culture: Music and Dance and Performance and the Visual Arts? What about those of us whose forte lies on the right side of the brain?
I know how it happened of course. Those in charge who created the idea of STEM, are all left-brained people. They all excelled at those subjects and became teachers who felt that THOSE subjects, THEIR SUBJECTS were the most important. But they are NOT! Yes, we need them and they will help America prosper, I give them that, but there is MORE to life than profit! More to Culture and Civilization than profit and the bottom line!
Even more basic- What are we as a society telling our budding ARTISTS when we tell them that THEIR interests… their Loves… aren’t important?
What do we really say when we tell them that their dreams are silly and nice hobbies, but “get a real job”?
When we make profit and money the defining factor which indicates Success or Failure and then strip all of the money out of teaching the arts as well as making it painfully difficult to BE an artist, what are we REALLY SAYING about what’s important to us as a people?
We’re telling the Creatives that The Arts are insignificant and unworthy of pursuit.
THE ARTS are close to the center of a nation’s purpose, said JFK. When we look back on previous cultures, we look back on their Art and Culture! Art, Writing, Music and Architecture are what endure the test of time.
So anytime you hear or see someone Talking about the STEM curricula, please, consider interjecting that ‘A’… consider telling them it should be ‘steAm’, so we don’t lose our culture to history.
