Another sad sad day for the arts

College Majors Music Majors
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<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/26/kindergarten-show-canceled-so-kids-can-keep-working-to-become-college-and-career-ready-really/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/26/kindergarten-show-canceled-so-kids-can-keep-working-to-become-college-and-career-ready-really/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I ran across this article about a school stopping the annual Kindergarten play because they need to focus on getting kids “college and career ready”. This makes me so ill. I teach college science and I can tell you that my students who have been involved in the arts are some of my best students. They know how to public speak, they can memorize, they can work in groups on projects, they know the importance of attendance, etc etc etc. Sorry, just had to vent at the stupidity of this. Not to even mention that fact that “hands on play learning” is a proven way to teach. I guarantee if they did a play on history, the kids would remember it. Thank heavens for School House Rock or I would never have understood what a conjunction was ;-)</p>

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<p>I know this district (VERY VERY well) and the Common Core trumps all there. Please don’t blame the actual Kindergarten teachers in this particular case. The decision is not coming from them. A huge thank you to the extortion tactics of Obama’s Race to the Top, Arne Duncan, Andrew Cuomo, John (he thinks he’s the) King, Commissioner of Education in NYS, and the NYS Board of Regents, as well as The Gates Fund, the Pearson testing company ($$$$), etc., etc., ad nauseam. Education is completely being ruined by these idiots. I feel so bad for all students, Kindergarten and otherwise, and my daughters, both of whom are in college for music education. This is what awaits them. It makes me sick to my stomach. A very sad day indeed. </p>

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<p>And these people call themselves “educators.”</p>

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<p>Our nation has become obsessed with test scores, and that is the driving force behind almost every initiative schools are taking on right now. It is not in any way driven by what is best for the students. Teachers are forced to spend more time preparing students for testing and students are spending more time taking tests–all because the public perception is that high test scores are the barometer of good teaching and learning. Until the nation–not just the government but the people as well–stops putting such an extreme emphasis on test scores, this madness will continue. I am an educator–a music teacher in a public school. I live and work with the crazy decisions like that described above on a daily basis. We are all working as hard as we humanly can to continue to provide our students with the best education possible despite everything raining down upon us.</p>

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<p>Yes, Clarimom, we are all doing what we do despite this nonsense. Just keep on keeping on. Well, I DID, but I’m retired 2 years now after teaching music for 33 years - and I’m not going to tell you from WHERE. But my husband is still at it (music teacher), fighting the good fight. Hang in there. But my poor daughters. Sigh.</p>

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<p>Not surprising, but please don’t try targeting any one group for the loss of arts education, it comes from all quarters. The blue collar/real america crowd complains and moans about art education being a ‘frill’, they will call gifted education “elitist”, but then will vote to spend a million bucks (or 20 million bucks, in Texas) building a new high school football stadium. There are those who claim to be about education reform, to attack the ills of the inner city, who will focus on test score achievement and likewise say arts is a ‘frill’. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, as a society, we have become obsessed with test scores and one of the reasons is because we see the achievement on standardized international tests in math and science, see how cultures that emphasize standardized tests (China, Korea) have done, and say basically ‘this is what we are competing against’, without looking at the entire picture (among other things, the Chinese and Koreans are worried their education system is producing kids who score great on tests and so forth, and are not being creative). The irony here is that there is a huge emphasis on music in those countries, though if I understand it correctly, the music teaching is done separately from the schools, that kids going to normal schools aren’t given music education either…</p>

<p>Add to that budget restraints, thanks to loss of aid, the property tax formula becoming unsustainable, pension costs going through the roof and a number of other factors, and arts funding, along with G and T funding, is seen as ‘costly frills we cannot afford’ (though at least not in my neck of the woods, sports programs, and then we get 'but sports teaches so much, and it benefits not just the players, but the other students, the band, etc…which may be true, but what makes those benefits any different than the benefits art and music gives?). .</p>

<p>A lot of this, too, is people are scared, and not surprisingly. In people’s minds, it used to be you could take whatever path you wanted, and could get a good paying job, with the decimation of the middle and working classes that has gone on, people are looking for the magic bullet so their kids will have (hopefully) a lifestyle close to what they had, among other things, this generation is one of the first where almost everyone believes their kids won’t have it as well as they do…so they are looking for tracks that will get them that plumb job, and it manifests itself that all along the line, there is no room to try anything, no taking risks, nothing except that golden track. I understand it, but it also ends up being self defeating in my opinion. For example, legions of students went into business administration/finance, thinking it was the track to be on, and now in many ways that degree is not seen as being particularly valuable…</p>

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<p>I think that part of the sad irony of this test first attitude is it may promote the problem that it supposedly seeks to address. This is editorial comment so take it as that, but with NCLB part of the push was that teachers as a group can’t be trusted to create valid lesson plans and don’t really have the best interest of students at heart. Teachers have been portrayed as lazy, can’t-do people who are essentially just on the state dole. I know that there are bad teachers and bad districts out there, but IMO as a student and with my kids the majority are excellent, dedicated, earnest professionals. With this latest morph into the Common Core where teacher creativity and individuality are flattened out and teachers as a group are under fire we may end up losing a generation of smart, enthusiastic young people who would have seen that as their calling.</p>

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<p>Exactly, saintfan. musicprnt, this is not about the loss of arts education, per se, although I agree with much of what you said in that regard. Though somewhat related, it’s really a different issue. My comments and “targeting” were related specifically to the incident the OP was talking about. I know this school. I know the parties involved. Believe it or not, the arts ARE appreciated in this district (as much as the arts can be, anyway). This canceling of the Kindergarten play (as well as things like field trips, etc.) occurred because of the fanatical adherence to the Common Core, which had its beginnings in NCLB and “perfected” in the Race to the Top. Time would be wasted on learning this play, not because it’s something involving the arts, but because any learning involved is not “rigorous” enough nor “aligned to the Common Core Standards”. And yes, I can blame the parties I mentioned in my earlier post. They have everything to do with what’s going on now. If you are not familiar with the specifics of the Race to the Top and what has been going on in schools lately Common Core-wise and who’s backing all of this, I suggest you look into it. It is quite fascinating. And sickening.</p>

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<p>I try to bring all manner of learning into my college anatomy class. My first year as a teacher was “death by powerpoint”. Now I try to engage them. It is not easy! At first they think I’m crazy when I tell them to bring colored pencils because they think it’s “too Kindergarten” but within a week they come up with wonderful illustrations to help them remember blood flow, muscle contraction, etc. We look at the works of Davinci and marvel that anatomy makes beautiful art. I have them come up with poems and mnemonic devices to learn body parts. We use GoAnimate to make quick easy videos of hard concepts. Last semester I heard the best rap song ever that taught the bone/joint movements. At the end of the semester, my comments are “thank you for making me think outside the box and learn in creative ways.” If I can do it in college, there is no reason they can’t do it in K-12, if legislators would let them. I dread the day when we have mandatory standardized college exit exams, but I fear it will happen and I will be forced to “teach to the test” and my students will suffer. Nothing makes a better lecture than a student asking a question and we leave the topic and go “jumping down a rabbit hole” exploring stuff I never intended to cover.<br>
BTW I am in no way artistically or musically talented. I sing barely on key and my stick figures are crooked but when my students see me try, they try too :)</p>

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<p>It is sad if common core is doing this, from what i understand about the common core framework it is simply supposed to be a framework to make sure that certain things are taught, that it wasn’t supposed to take individual initiative out of the process nor take out things like art education. To be honest, I kind of wonder if it is common core standards doing this, or if local school districts are looking for an excuse to cut out ‘frills’ and such (I realize mom2 you know the district in question, so I definitely am not saying you are wrong, for obvious reasons). People there may be pro arts, but could common core be a casus belli to cut out programs, and blame it? Lot of people in my own school district claim they are pro arts and pro music, but even back in the dark ages when I was in high school, the music program existed in large part because the boosters wanted a marching band at the football games (put it this way, marching band was not an option, if you were in the regular wind ensemble programs, you were in marching band, ti ‘paid for’ the stage bands). </p>

<p>On the other hand, nothing surprises me. Common Core supposedly was created by a consortium of states (not by the feds), to try and make sure certain things were being taught, and to stop the discrepancy between states and even districts, to make sure certain things were taught and to give a framework to make it easier. If schools are being forced to cut things like the school play or whatever, someone really has exceeded their authority IMO. I went back and read the original article, and to me it sounds like this wasn’t the regents and the state, but rather the school administration. I take note there is an interim principal, who may very well be vying for the permanent job, and is using this to cement their reputation as an ‘educator of the future’ or whatever. The fact that the district wouldn’t comment is telling, this sounds to me like there is more to it. Either the principal and the teachers really believe the BS that the only thing that matters is driving academic achievement only, or they are putting on a show to make themselves look good…I would hope parents would be angry about this, but to be honest, I suspect very few will complain or demand an explanation. I also will add that some of this smacks into what I have seen with kids who are gifted, the kind of teachers who saw a bright kid who asked a lot of questions and resented it because it took them off their lesson plan and such (and yes, that is a bad teacher, but it is quite common, and in NJ the NJEA is very, very negative about gifted kids and the challenges they pose, their basic answer is gifted kids were no different than any other and should simply go through school with the rest of the kids, despite all the BS they put out in public…). If this is what passes as getting kids ready for the 21st century, I am really glad my son went to some unique private schools, and then homeschooled, the public schools look like they are set to turn out drones who pass standardized tests but can’t think their way out of a paper bag <em>sigh</em>. </p>

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<p>This principal is actually in central administration (one of the many extra administrators they’ve hired to oversee this Common Core stuff) and is filling in for the real principal who’s on maternity leave. As far as the parents, this is a district that has quite a few well-off people and believe you me, they are not happy, and they are not shy about letting their feelings be known. Here is a petition with over 2300 signatures on it <a href=“Petition · Re instate the Kindergarten show · Change.org”>http://www.change.org/petitions/elwood-school-district-re-instate-the-kindergarten-show&lt;/a&gt;
to get the play back on to the calendar. In fact, there is a special board of ed. meeting tonight to address this issue and I think (and hope!) there’s going to be hell to pay. Fasten your seat belts - it’s going to be a bumpy ride tonight.</p>

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<p>If they cannot teach the kids what is needed without cutting the school play, something is wrong at that school. </p>

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<p>Several years ago when arts programs were being cut, my town in Texas added a strings program in the elementary schools which over the years has been expanded to the middle and high schools. My son got into music because a violin was put into his hand in an early grade. But the town just south of us is the one that spent $60 million on their high school football stadium which is now closed because of cracks in the concrete. The town also has only one high school so as to not weaken the football team. They have won the football championship the last two years. Then there is the story of the town in east Texas that had to choose between new air conditioning for the classrooms or new football stadium lights. Not hard to determine which won.</p>

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<p>@‌ compdad-
It is good to know there are sensible people all over:). Same thing here in bucolic NJ, a high school district near me cut their G and T program and got rid of one of their music teachers, yet they spent something like 1 million bucks on putting down field turf in the football stadium and rebuilding the stands and such to make them more ‘state of the art’.). While I realize that money was probably done via a bond issue, rather than being from the direct school budget (though the interest on it obviously takes from the school budget).</p>

<p>From the original story, I suspect the joker in the deck is the ‘interim principal’, she sounds like the kind of ‘educator’ who makes my skin crawl, the type that is a ‘professional educator’ and therefore knows all (and I apologize to anyone who is a dedicated teacher). My S ran into that kind of attitude with a program where his chamber group did a presentation at a public school in NY, he and the other members of the group are great at public speaking, love to talk about music, but the ‘professional music educator’ (the person actually said that to them) was patronizing towards them, treated them like they didn’t know anything about music, my S is easygoing but by the end of the day he wanted to go find the teacher’s union offices and firebomb it…I hope the people in the town roast the idiot alive, if we let people like her run our education system it will be a sad day for this country, it will drive out one of the things that made the US education system unique IMO, encouraging different ways of learning and doing things differently. At a time when creativity and intellectual capital are more and more important, we seem to be copying rote learning designed by bureaucrats to do well on tests as ‘education’, which often works against creativity and innovation. </p>

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<p>We had a new principal like that when my kids were in elementary. Our superintendent at the time, who late went on to a high position with a national testing company, did some good things in the district but had a very top down approach. He installed quite a few young principles who were beholden then moved them around from school to school at intervals so they wouldn’t be more attacked to the school and faculty than the head office. We drew a doozie for a period who, along with other changes, discontinued the 5th grade end of year field trip that kids looked forward to for years. Thankfully our son got lucky with a 5th grade teacher who was old school and would shut the door and teach how he wanted to when nobody was looking. He was a gem and re-inspired our son.</p>

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<p>Sadly, we are creating schools for the educrats and the types who I remember all too well from management school, with their obsession with ‘measuring’ things, which often means assessing people on numbers that may or may not reflect anything (in the business world, people like Jack Welch and his proteges, many of whom have run other companies into the ground with this approach)… This has been coming for a long time, I remember talking to my S’s teachers at the private school he went to, and one of the reasons they taught there was they had the freedom to teach in ways that used their skills, they would have made a lot more money in the public schools, but liked being able to work with the kids and not worry about standardized learning plans the NJEA wants teachers to follow, and the idiocy of standardized tests and such the educrats come up with. For all the complaining we do about teachers the sad truth is that the education system they are building now will force out the innovative teachers, the ones who passionately want to teach, and will leave us with teachers who simply will go along with the rote teaching to the test, who simply want to exist for x years and collect a pension, and that is sad. I had teachers of this latter sort back in the dark ages when I went to school, but I had some that really were teachers, who were passionate and actually got some of us interested in something other than getting a good grade on a test, and those people had real impact (the timeservers, on the other hand, we a bane to my existence as a student). </p>

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<p>Once again, I need to reply as an educator–one who works on a daily basis with a entire staff of wonderful teachers who are doing excellent work in their classrooms. As I read through the above posts I was saddened by what feels like a bashing of both teachers and of public schools. I teach in a public school and am proud to be a part of a school with great staff all working above and beyond every day to educate our students. The public schools in our city are excellent–and test scores in the public schools in our state for the most part exceed those of private schools. I understand some of the posters are addressing the state of education in their geographic location or town. But, please understand that I found some of the statements quite vicious and rather offensive. As far as the Common Core standards go, there is a lot of misinformation out there. I have not found any indication that they will in any way stifle creativity and imagination in our children (or our teachers). We have had a set of state standards as well as district standards for as I have been teaching. Standards-based teaching assures that students learn what is essential–but they don’t dictate how the teacher should teach nor do they limit us from going above and beyond the curriculum to meet the needs of all students. Unfortunately, it has become such a hot political issue–which it never should have become. I, too, am appalled by situation such as the one in the OP. Cutting the arts is happening everywhere–and has been for some time. But the above is simply poor administrative decision-making at its worst.</p>

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<p>I agree @Clairmom<br>
I am the child of 2 pubic educators and teach in a state run college. I was in no way bashing the teachers. I think the administration in the posted article is misguided. My child attended public k-11 with a great arts program, school plays, chorus, etc. All these things combined to inspire her to pursue music. She does attend Interlochen now, but that was not a decision against our local pubic school, but rather a chance for her to focus on what she loves. I am saddened that the principal in the OP is too short sighted to realize the impact of removing creativity from the learning experience. I do think we all need to be aware of these types of decisions so we can be prepared to fight for the arts in our local system.</p>

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<p>Clarimom, I also need to reply as a music educator of 33 years (retired from the district in question here) that while I agree with you on the (sort-of) teacher/public school bashing I’m reading here (and everywhere it seems), and also that this is not directly about cutting the arts, which I mentioned already, I very much disagree with you on how the Common Core is affecting teaching. I don’t know what state you teach in, but in NYS, the APPR (the teacher evaluation system that was signed into law) is tied to the Common Core-aligned standardized tests. While we all want to have standards in teaching (and yes this district, too, is a very high-performing district that has always had rigorous standards and a very good music program as well, if I do say so myself), the Common Core standards were not written by teachers. The Common Core-aligned standardized tests are developmentally inappropriate, and so you have teachers teaching to these ridiculous tests because their job evaluations (and hence their jobs) depend on their kids getting decent scores. Another issue is that many districts in NYS are forcing their teachers to teach from scripted modules created by NYSED, and if they don’t comply they get written up in observations. As long as teacher evaluations are linked to these tests, and teachers are being coerced into teaching from specific scripts, the Common Core VERY MUCH dictates what and how teachers teach (I’m talking primarily about classroom teachers, grades K-6, but it affects all grades and subjects), at least the way it is being implemented here in NYS. This is not misinformation, my husband brings it home everyday.</p>

<p>I was at the Board of Ed. meeting last night in this district, and despite the pleas to reinstate the play from many, many parents who spoke, the Superintendent and the BOE members upheld the decision to cancel it. All they talked about was how their hands are tied by what Andrew Cuomo and John King have done and how this show is “not the best use of the limited time we have with our youngest learners”, and while certainly regrettable, they need to give students “the most instructional time as possible”(sic). The reasons they gave are that they need to prepare the Kindergarteners (who only have a half day of school, btw) to be ready for first grade and those tests and the ensuing APPR. This is exactly what they said. Do I agree with you that it is poor administrative decision-making? Absolutely. Despite the fact that the Kindergarteners have only a half day, I think a few hours here and there could certainly have been spent on a cute little play.</p>

<p>I also would like to say that the staff in this school district does wonderful, wonderful things everyday with the students, getting fantastic results, which is quite remarkable given what’s going on with everything I mentioned above and the constant bashing from people who have no clue about the things I mentioned above, and I was very proud to be a member of that staff, however misguided the present administration is.</p>

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<p>Thank for the update @Momof2violinists‌
Sorry the outcome did not change. :(</p>