"Why Teach Art?"

                                                    
     Why teach art? What a broad and endless question. While I am on the biased end of the spectrum I still feel as though I am trusted source to answer this question. Why teach Art? Why teach English? Science? Math? Music? Why Teach? All these subjects hold valuable information for becoming successful in life so why question what should be taught in schools? It's understandable to easily be able to figure out why the core subjects of English, Math, and Science are taught but when it comes to teaching Art it's often referred to as not necessary and an intellectually weak subject. When in fact, "... education can learn from the arts that [it] is relevance to the improvement in our schools" (Eisner 23). 
    I believe art should be taught to teach students how to intelligently and creatively express their feelings in a safe and judge-free classroom. Creating art not only develops motor skills but also helps children: 


                  1. Make "qualitative relationship" in which it is "judgement rather than rules that                                    
                      prevail."


                   2. That "... problems can have more than one solution..." and "celebrate multiple 
                       perspectives."


                   3. Know that "... small differences can have large effects" (Erickson)


     Besides these three main points there are many more reasons why art should be taught in schools. Art educators acknowledge that "... everything interacts; there is no content without form, and no form without content." We teach this by creating different phenomena's in which the students use materials to understand interaction between these materials. "Interaction is a condition of experience... [and] is the character of the interaction that defines our experience." Art Education also teaches the student that "... surprise is not to be seen as an intruder in the process of inquiry but as a part of the rewards one reaps when working artistically."  This surprise creates "... a new insight." In which "No surprise, no discovery; no discovery, no progress." which creates a "powerful source of intrinsic satisfaction" (Eisner)
     My art education program will "... emphasize the contributions of art to cultural knowledge, personal and social identity, visual literacy, and the creative economy." After creating artwork that exemplifies these qualities our program will hold local exhibitions of the class artwork every few months. I will also post photos and blog so that the students parents will be able to follow their child's learning path in the realm of art. Creating the blog and posting photos (with parents consent) will be my personal documentation of the art education program that I create.
       So why teach art? "... art can play a critical role in the cognitive and affective development of learners." Teaching art also creates an environment in which students are able to construct their own meaning. "They can see ideas expressed in various forms and cultures and relate them to their personal set of thoughts and visual statements" (Simpson 15).

I hear and I forget

I see and I remember

I do and I understand

Teach Art.

                                                            
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