confusion and ugliness." He suggests that schools teach arts as the main curriculum,
with "math appreciation" in the afternoon.
Having suggested that intensive arts training develops habits, attitudes and skills useful
for life in postmodern society, I would like to suggest how such training mirrors some of
the current issues in school reform.
Education Through the Arts and School Reform
Coalition of Essential Schools -- Many of the concepts that inform Coalition
Schools are seen in the process by which students have been trained in the arts for
centuries. For example, the notions of student as worker and teacher as coach are
reflected in the relationship between the young artist and her teacher. She learns by
doing--by playing the violin. The teacher teaches by coaching and by demonstration.
The concepts of outcome-based education and assessment by portfolio or demonstration
are also part of the process of arts training. Students are judged on what they can do at a
given moment in time. In music training such demonstrations are called juries and are
the basis upon which progress is judged. Finally, the idea that the process, as well as the
content, of learning should support lifelong learning is also seen in the study of the
violin. Such study is never done, and such skills, once learned, become part of the fabric
of the individual.
Standards --The theory behind the press for standards is that, if we want students to
achieve at a high level, we must establish high national standards in all disciplines and
hold schools and students accountable to those standards. High standards in the schools
are seen as important not only in measuring achievement but also in motivating
students. Studies have consistently indicated that high expectations, coupled with expert
teaching, leads to high achievement.
In recent years there has been much discussion about the nature of "motivation" in
students. The complexity of this issue has led some, sadly, to conclude that some
children cannot respond to high standards, therefore lowering expectations and getting,
predictably, low achievement. Low expectation leads to low achievement. The recent
self-esteem movement in schools appears to suggest that children be told they are doing
well even if they are not, because they will do better if they feel better about themselves.
The result of this seems to be happy students who can't spell and who are not good
judges of the true quality of their work.
Arts training, on the other hand, has never lost sight of the importance of high standards
nor of what it take to achieve them. There is no quick and easy way to learn to play the
violin. Arts training has followed the same principles for millennia: respect your teacher,
work hard, and always aim to be the best you can be. High achievement is the result of
some talent, good coaching, and a great deal of hard work. Further, these standards
must be internalized by the student if he wishes to progress. Standards then become an
aspect of character, not something externally imposed.
The discussion of standards also raises, again, the issue of assessment. In the arts, the
final judge of a student's achievement is a master practitioner who sets the standard. To