fashioned schools, and some seem to start in the middle of a concept and work their way
out.
Until relatively recently, schools, particularly secondary schools, were structured to
accommodate only the "linear" learner. Students who could sit still, write from the
blackboard, keep their books in order, and listen without fidgeting to someone talking
for a long time, did well. (What they learned is another question). Students who did not
operate in this way were often labeled stupid, rebellious, or mentally ill (and if they
weren't when they started, they were by the time they had suffered through years of
being told they were bad because they didn't understand).
Happily, we now understand that children learn in a variety of ways and that the task of
teachers is to ascertain how each child learns and works to teach to her strengths while
helping her strengthen her weaknesses. This is not easy; it was much simpler to assume
that all children learned in the same way. However, the more complex view is essential if
we are to educate children as opposed to just keeping them in school.
Related to our increasing understanding of the true complexity of learning styles are the
theories of Howard Gardner about the nature of intelligence. Gardner suggests that
there are seven "intelligences," not just the two -- logical-mathematical and linguistic --
addressed in traditional schooling. He suggests that schools should strive to identify and
develop all intelligences in children, including those he calls bodily-kinesthetic, musical,
spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Different children will have different arrays of
"intelligences" and schools need to teach to the particular child, using a variety of
methods, and allow a variety of means of expression of such "intelligences."
He also raises the interesting point that we call logical-mathematical and linguistic
abilities "intelligence" and label the rest, such as musical ability, as "talents." This
distinction suggests that we view such intelligences as rare, particular to a few, not "real"
ways of learning and therefore out of the realm of schools. Further, it is a radical notion
in schooling to assert, as Gardner and others do, that the senses are direct forms of
cognition and understanding.
Clearly, a school for the arts is able to offer to students many more opportunities to
develop more "intelligences" then does a school which does not include work with the
body, with music, with developing the understanding of self and others required of the
good actor or the ensemble musician. Gardner's work makes it, once again, clear that, in
removing the arts from the schools, many children lose access to modes of learning
which are as valid in terms of developing essential general skills as the study of any of
the traditional academic disciplines, and which may be a more effective match with their
learning styles. The opportunity to teach the whole child is diminished.
Multiculturalism in Schools -- Multiculturalism in schools, especially in urban
areas, has become a concern in recent years. According to the Carnegie Commission
Report on Adolescence, one-third of American adolescents today are of non-European
descent, coming from a wide variety of religious, ethnic, and national backgrounds. By
the year 2050, close to 50% of the American population will be non-Caucasian. At
present, in 26 California cities, there is no single racial ethnic majority. Learning to live