Author: Dobbs, Stephen Mark

Publication Year: 1978

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This is a book whose time has come. No theme is more topical and hotly debated in American education today than the back to basics movement which has consequences for every area of the curriculum, including the arts. The emphasis on basics in schools is only the tip of a conservative iceberg which may now be pervasive in American life, resulting in large measure from the searching re-examination of our values and our institutions in the wake of the disasters of the Sixties and Seventies, Vietnam and Watergate. Political and social turmoil has produced a spirit of solicitude, a yearning for the clarity, simplicity and directness of the uncomplicated good old days. Perhaps this is not as much of a simplification as it sounds. Basic literacy is still a major problem in the schools, and the patience of the public appears exhausted with sociological explanations of why Johnny can't read. Something equivalent to the Proposition 13 taxpayer's revolt is happening throughout the land; the call is heard for a return to traditional values and methods based on the Three R's, a curriculum unencumbered by soft subjects, electives, and educational jargon.

Abstract:

This is a book whose time has come. No theme is more topical and hotly debated in American education today than the back to basics movement which has consequences for every area of the curriculum, including the arts. The emphasis on basics in schools is only the tip of a conservative iceberg which may now be pervasive in American life, resulting in large measure from the searching re-examination of our values and our institutions in the wake of the disasters of the Sixties and Seventies, Vietnam and Watergate. Political and social turmoil has produced a spirit of solicitude, a yearning for the clarity, simplicity and directness of the uncomplicated good old days. Perhaps this is not as much of a simplification as it sounds. Basic literacy is still a major problem in the schools, and the patience of the public appears exhausted with sociological explanations of why Johnny can't read. Something equivalent to the Proposition 13 taxpayer's revolt is happening throughout the land; the call is heard for a return to traditional values and methods based on the Three R's, a curriculum unencumbered by soft subjects, electives, and educational jargon.

For advocates of the arts in education, this revaluation of American education presents both problems and opportunities. At worst it may tempt some arts educators to sacrifice their best rationales for arts programming in order to do anything required to hitch a ride on the latest educational bandwagon. At best the back to basics movement allows new chances to prove and promote the role of the arts in the essential education of the young. It all may depend, of course, upon how thousands of school boards define what basic education is, and how liberal and generous they are prepared to be in deciding what fits their definition. Yet all this strikes one as somewhat familiar.

But as the authors of the following chapters attest, the back to basics boom also presents fresh chances for important inroads. The educational trend is compatible with the intrinsic and authentic interests of arts education. Each of these writers, outstanding educators in their respective fields, shares a commitment to human growth and development, to the improvement of the schools and professional preparation of teachers and curriculum, and to the arts and what they can do for the quality of life.

CONTENTS
Introduction by Stephen Mark Dobbs.

  1. Education in what is basic by John Goodlad.
  2. Art, basic education, and the back to basics movement by A. Graham Down.
  3. The arts as basic skills by Martin Engel.
  4. How basic is aesthetic education? Or is 'Rt the fourth R? by Harry S. Broudy.
  5. Conservative influences on the arts in education by Elliot W. Eisner.
  6. Back to images by Edmumd Burke Feldman.
  7. Enhancing the aesthetic potential by Vincent Lanier.
  8. Child art, school art, and the real world of art by Michael Day.
  9. Arts education: Catalyst for student motivation and performance by Kathryn Bloom.
10. A return to fundamentals by Irving Kaufman.
11. Back to basics and the preparation of art teachers by Diana Korzenik.
12. What do teachers need to make art basic? by Rogena M. Degge.
13. Arts, politics and change in the schools by Thomas A. Hatfield.
14. Forward to the basics! by Virginia M. Brouch and Judith A. Kula.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education