The best way to prepare America’s students for the future doesn’t
require increasing academic competition, but rather relies on recognizing
the decreasing emphasis in today’s schools on the unfettered expression
of the self. As technology increases, so do the opportunities for
people to express themselves in new and original ways. When literacy
was low and the average person could neither read nor write, poetry and
stories were reserved for only the rich, who could afford such an education.
When, in olden times, instruments were handcrafted by masters (thus commanding
a heavy price for the commission) the average person wasn’t able
to express themselves through music. Times have changed. Access
to many exciting means of expression is on the rise, predominantly through
the incredible recent advances in technology and in the computer sciences. Children
worldwide have a greater chance to be exposed to art, music, and poetry,
giving them a better chance to experience self-expression at its best.
This should give more and more students the chance to become creative,
in whatever way suits them best.
However, society today seems more focused
on the practical. The emphasis is placed on learning skills that are
thought to benefit students later on in life. Apparently, the arts are
not considered a part of those skills. Increasing emphasis on the Core
Subjects, while certainly important, is leaving no room for Music and
the Arts in school. During the Renaissance, the l'umo universale, the
ideal well-rounded man, was able to paint, sculpt, sing, and write poetry
brilliantly. Now, test scores are more important to schools than their
students’ ability to express themselves. Because of the emphasis
placed by schools on learning academics, the talents that can help a student
express him or herself are being shunted aside into the "do on your own
time" category.
I’m tone-deaf and unable to draw a straight
line and I’m jealous of those that are naturally talented in those
areas. I
wonder if their schools supported their self-expression early on, leading
them to develop skills that will serve them for their whole lives. But
in most of today’s schools children are taught that it is better
to do well on tests than to draw beautifully. Creativity is being
stifled in our schools and that needs to be rectified if our students
are to excel in tomorrow’s world.
Some of the pressure to
do well in measurable areas (like standardized tests) needs to be shifted
to encourage expressions of creativity. With children being encouraged
to express themselves, students would have a viable and impressive way
to show who they are inside. And
it is only those who know themselves who can then make the intellectual
leaps that have always moved our world forward. Twyla Tharp, Steve
Jobs, Thomas Edison, Danny Elfman, Steven Speilberg, Maya Angelou - all
creative people whose talents were encouraged, to the betterment of this
country, and of the world in general. |
