Some have asked is art education important?
At SDCCS we believe it is. Many people can see the importance of art in society, but question if it
is really necessary to teach art in schools.The following is an excerpt from the Charles Fowlers
book “Strong Arts, Strong Schools”.
The arts provide a more comprehensive and insightful education because they invite students to
explore the emotional intuitive and irrational aspects of life that science is hard pressed to explain.
Humans invented each of the arts as a way of representing particular aspects of reality in order to
understand and make better sense of the world, manage life better and be able to share these per-
ceptions with others. The arts therefore enrich the curriculum by adding important extensions of
awareness and comprehension at the same time they affirm the interconnectedness of all forms knowing. This is why an education without the arts is incomplete.
The Necessity for the Arts
The arts are necessary in our lives and in our schools because they:
- Teach us divergent, rather than convergent thinking
- Develop craftsmanship, the ability to apply aesthetics
- Introduce us to the perceptions and understanding we could not acquire any other way.
- Enlighten our understanding, making it deeper and more comprehensive
- Facilitate human communication within and across cultures
- Help us define who we are and articulate our own very special sense of being, distinguishing our relationship to time by showing us who we are today and who we will be in the future
- Replenish our spirit and, by nurturing it consoling it and inspiring it affirm our humanity.
Art at SDCCS
At a time when art instruction in the classroom is at a minimum due to lack of funding, I am lucky to work at SDCCS, which includes art education as an essential part of its core curriculum and is one of the few schools in the San Diego Unified School District to maintain a full-time credentialed art teacher.The school has dedicated a classroom as a permanent art studio for the students, with instruction in all forms of art media. To further develop the program, SDCCS recently acquired a professional kiln for firing ceramic pieces.
“My job is to allocate resources according to the values of our community,” said Dr. Wendy Ranck-Buhr, SDCCS Principal, “and at SDCCS our values hold that the arts are essential to a well-rounded education. Each of our exiting students is expected to have demonstrated achievement in academics, physical fitness, community service, cultural awareness, personal growth, and artistic expression.”