mcore@soho.ios.com (Ray Evans Harrell) writes an impressive
submission regarding the importance of Fine Art education:
>Last week there was an article in the NYTimes about the music
>education of children in the Japanese schools. They stated something
>that I have direct experience with, i.e. the terrific quality of the
>average music education of the Japanese child in Western Art music.
>The article drew a connection between Math and Science scores and
>the music program. The Music program enhanced the scores.
>The Artsvision program that has been used in several inner city schools
>around the U.S. has raised schools from failure in the SAT scores to
>the top scores of their cities. In the schools where the Fine Arts
>have become at least a 30% part of the core educational program, crime,
>drugs and a skewed school community have become a thing of the past.
Last year, I had the opportunity to respond to an article in the Financial
Post lamenting the declining funding to the sciences in schools. The
essence of the original article was that cuts were hurting sciences more
than arts.
My main point was that the teaching of "soft" skills such as the arts has
given North America the chance to excel in the rapidly emerging world of
content producers.
For a copy of the response, see "rolesci" at the Web site:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/yti"
(PS this dialog about different types of learning deserves some attention
on LO. I believe that What we are learning can influence the future as
much as the quantity. When was the last time an organization paid for Fine
Art education as a way to teach people how to be creative in different
ways!)
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>