New York City is most famously known for its array of the arts. It’s one of the many reasons aspiring dancers, musicians, actors, and artists flock to the city that never sleeps. But over the years, I as well as my friends have noticed the arts, more specifically visual arts, have suffered a decline in NYC public schools. The disappearance of art classes has already become noticeable and my friends who have younger siblings feel that it has impacted middle and elementary school students the most. Many of them might have no art classes. It also seems to have worsened during the pandemic, as many feel schools have had to cut down on extracurricular classes or stopped teaching them entirely. So why are they being erased, and more importantly why should we care?
This situation stems from multiple factors. It might seem easy to blame the pandemic, but it hardly explains the overall trend. Schools did not abandon the teaching of other subjects but merely changed schedules and class arrangements. Hence, dropping the requirements for the art classes was a political decision. It represented a belief that the arts somehow have inferior value to students compared to other disciplines. In this context, it becomes easy to explain the cancellation of art classes in many NYC schools. The change might give schools more time and resources for instruction in other subjects (Robinson, 2022). Certainly, shortages are also major contributing factors. Limited funding often forces school administrators to set priorities or even remove some disciplines from the curricula regardless of their beliefs. According to Robinson (2022), underfunding is particularly severe among elementary schools, as classrooms might lack even the most basic amenities. The shortage of teachers is another problem. Many schools do not even have art teachers, while educators often might have to work with up to 750 students. In such conditions, normal arts instruction becomes unsustainable.
I consider this situation alarming and believe that everyone should care about it because the new trend can impoverish students and society. First of all, the disappearance of the arts significantly limits the quality of education and its unique opportunities. While many critics dismiss the value of arts education, it offers many benefits. Kisida and Bowen (2019) advocate on how art can help students recover from mental traumas and feel more engaged in the educational process. They frame art as an essential element of the normal human experience. Involvement in art classes and programs boosts students’ emotional and social well-being. Winner and Hetland (2008, pg 29) indicate it can promote tolerance, civic engagement, and deeper self-reflection. They note that math and other subjects promoted by standardized testing mainly incentivize the regurgitation of information but do not encourage other essential skills and traits. Meanwhile, arts promote self-criticism and willingness to experiment and take risks. Many careers and social roles require these traits. In such a way, abandonment of the arts could decrease the quality of education, students’ well-being, and new generations’ contributions to society.
I have personally felt the impact visual art has had when it comes to social-emotional well-being. Growing up, my middle school art class became a community where we encouraged others to express themselves in a way that spoken word couldn’t. One time I can clearly remember was the unfortunate death of our photography teacher who had dealt with cancer. Many of us didn’t even realize she was sick. After hearing the news, it seemed like a lot of students didn’t know how to let out their anger, guilt, or sadness and it led to a lot of bad behavior. Our art teacher felt that we needed an intervention. Since our middle school was quite small, we were able to fit into the gymnasium and had different art stations: we had a mural station, a station with canvases and acrylic paint, and a station where paper was on the ground and we were free to paint it however we’d like, similar to Pollock’s style. We had a conversation about how grief never looks the same, how to accept the feelings that come up instead of fighting or deflecting emotions, and what it means to honor someone. After that, we were able to choose a station to begin with, while freely letting any emotion that came up just exist. I remember seeing others that were closer to our photography teacher cry as they painted the mural draft, many of the kids who acted out of anger because of grieving were able to release it in the “Polonsky style” section, covering their hands in paint and just sweeping it all over the paper until it felt right. We did leave a little lighter with the understanding that we weren’t going to be over this tragedy right away, but there was a way to let out these emotions in a way that was not only kind to others but kind to ourselves. Being young comes with the difficulty of accurately articulating your emotions into words and I was no exception to the rule. Even before the incident above, emotions were intense for me as a child. I understood how to talk about the basic emotions I felt: happy, sad, or mad, but complex emotions such as guilt, embarrassment, and even something positive like feeling valued, were not easy to articulate. Those specific feelings are something we learn to fully understand as we grow older, with experience and the knowledge that two feelings can coexist with each other, one example being: love and hate. But whenever I had a brush in my hand and a canvas in front of me, everything I felt like I wasn’t able to say could be conveyed through colors that were associated with the energy I felt and how I wanted to feel. It wasn’t a free period, it was a learning experience just like any other subject. The only difference was you were learning about yourself with a few fundamental rules.
Multiple policies might improve the situation. Increasing funding is an obvious solution. NYC is a big city with sufficient resources to develop and fund various art instruction options at a reasonable cost. Additionally, local authorities could promote more active utilization of the already available funds. Indeed, schools failed to use most of the $313.8 million budget for arts education in 2020 amid lockdowns and the elimination of minimum instruction requirements (Robinson, 2022). However, since the COVID health emergency (and the need for drastic restrictions) has effectively ended, authorities can reinstate these requirements to let more students learn arts. Additionally, authorities should consider investing more money in training certified arts teachers. It also sounds wise to develop programs for recruiting arts teachers in other cities and states where shortages might be less severe. The federal government could potentially improve the situation by simplifying immigration for certified teachers from other countries.
Art has been a part of our lives for many years, without us even knowing it at times. The one thought that was constantly running through the back of my mind as I wrote was the famous saying “Life imitates Art”. Art begs us to ask more questions about ourselves, the world around us, and what change we need to make in order to achieve our goals. One of the most popular art movements, the Renaissance era, is a perfect example of just how much a society can change when being able to freely express new ideas and learn about themselves through fiction. How are we supposed to improve as a society that has been regarded as fast pace if we don’t stop to teach our youth to heal, learn, and communicate in one of the, in my opinion, best non-verbal languages that have existed for centuries? We must do better as a society, and especially as upcoming teachers, to understand the important connection that the real world and art have and how we can still implement these practices in our classroom regardless of budgeting. Art is not a passing activity, it is not a free period, and it is especially not a waste of time.
“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life”
-Oscar Wilde
References
Kisida, B. & Bowen, D. H. (2019, February 12). New evidence of the benefits of arts education. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/02/12/new-evidence-of-the-benefits-of-arts-education/
Robinson, G. (2022, June 9). After tough time for art in city schools, advocates seek more funding. City Limits. https://citylimits.org/2022/06/09/after-tough-time-for-art-in-city-schools-advocates-seek-more-funding/
Winner, E., & Hetland, L. (2008). Art for our sake school arts classes matter more than ever-but not for the reasons you think. Arts education policy review, 109(5), 29-32.