Art brings an added dimension to educational development by de-emphasizing grades and standards for success, a Harvard professor said last night at a forum discussing the role of art education in school curricula.
Jessica Davis, the founding director of the Arts and Education Department at Harvard and an educational advisor to Hillary Clinton during the Clinton administration, stressed the interdisciplinary use of art at the forum, held in Cambridge and recorded for broadcast on National Public Radio.
She criticized the lack of art-related subjects in America’s education system and said art instills the value of learning to fail in a student’s educational experience.
‘All students need to be able to encounter and make sense of failure,’ Davis said. ‘If we discourage children from taking the risk of failure, we are not training them for life at all.’
Art classes take the focus off typical teaching methods, said Wendy Orlando, a graduate student in education at Harvard and a pupil of Davis.
‘Whether it’s art, math or science, teachers have to de-emphasize the answers and focus more on the process of learning,’ Orlando said. ‘Across the disciplines, we need to let children see that failure is really an opportunity.’
Instructors tend to de-emphasize art, especially in high school, where the focus on the demanding university acceptance standards deters students from taking art classes, according to Davis, who labeled this phenomenon as a polarization of art and non-art subjects.
‘Many colleges don’t hold experience in arts as valuable for admissions, which is a major obstacle in integrating art into the lives of students,’ Davis said.
However, she insisted, despite the lack of emphasis on art in most curricula, enthusiastic educators can overcome this obstacle.
‘We have to make arts a priority,’ she said. ‘Teachers need to be trained in art, specialists brought in and time needs to be set aside during every school day for it.’
Davis added parents and community members can play a role in integrating art into their children’s daily lives.
‘School is a microcosm of society. Art gets integrated into schools in communities where parents, principals and community members value the arts,’ she said.
The first step is to emphasize the long-term value art has in building self-esteem, character and humanity, as well as improving student performance in other subjects, Davis suggested. In addition, instructors should teach children that in a world of grades and competition, failure does not necessarily have to have a bad connotation and can present an opportunity for change.
‘Art gives value to the process of doing or making something,’ Orlando said. ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s a painting or a math problem, art shows that it’s okay to fail, because it is more important to understand how and why, rather than focusing on the outcome.’
The process itself is what makes art a unique and valuable discipline, Davis concluded.
‘The great challenge we have is to continue to keep alive what is special about the arts,’ she said. ‘Once we get our foot in the door, we need to make sure we keep art alive in schools.’
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