A friend and I wrote this open letter as a response to Chancellor Brogen's ideas about education reform. Since I am a music major and David is an arts education major, we are both pretty passionate about the arts. We also wrote this during a time when there were rumors going around about the university having to cut these programs due to budget cuts. Thankfully, they are not at that point yet :)
Dear Chancellor Brogen,
Congratulations and welcome to the PASSHE. We truly wish you the best of luck in your next four years as you help to guide our education system. As economic pressures and current demographics are forcing state schools to make budget cuts, we understand that accommodations need to be made. However, there is great concern about your “workforce plan” and your desire to streamline secondary education. You claim that eliminating “under subscribed” programs such as music or the art programs is the answer to our budget woes.
As current music and art students, we firmly believe that cutting these programs is a detrimental decision. Without the arts, we will lose the important skills that these disciplines provide. Both music and art help foster critical thinking, self-awareness, and creativity. An education without them would fail to fully prepare students for something we like to call “the real world”. I hope that you read this letter with an open mind and come to realize the importance of a complete education - one that includes the arts.
One of the skills that the arts help develop is critical thinking. To an artist or musician, this is being aware of your surrounding and knowing how to efficiently use them to your advantage. Susan Mackey, a well known psychologist, defines critical thinking stating, “Music, the visual arts, and dance can be used to develop critical thinking, which includes the ability to use logic and reasoning in problem solving. Critical thinking is an active, purposeful, organized, and cognitive process that research has shown can be explicitly taught”. Reflecting on this I can say that the arts help us develop the critical thinking skills we already have. I believe this because we all learn differently. For example some learn critical thinking from the arts instead of the sciences. Also that critical thinking is purposeful, active, and organized. As an artist I, David, think that critical thinking is linked to the arts because you constantly come across problems in art and you have to think not only quickly, but efficiently to resolve the issue. On top of resolving the issue with quickly and efficiently you an artist is also challenged with using the tools around them.
Critical thinking is obviously relevant to not only every discipline, but also just life itself. The arts are very effective at teaching these skills though. In art I have to be careful and plan out my work and when I make a wrong mark or any other mistake I have to figure out how to incorporate it or fix it. Along with this I have to improvise if I have limited supplies or it something breaks. I use the critical thinking skills I developed in my art classes everyday and everywhere. I mostly use my critical thinking in my artwork, but the second place my skills shine is in the workplace. I have worked mostly in restaurants and we are always short on items or things break or go wrong. These events trigger my critical thinking skills. A couple days ago, we ran out of the grill cleaner and the grill brick was missing. I had to actively pull knowledge together and look at my surrounding. It hit me that vinegar is used as cleaner and that we had scrubbing pads and towels so I did not get burned. It may not sound big but it is important for health reasons and without my critical thinking skills. The grills would have remained dirty and it would have been a health hazard. Just like critical thinking skills, the arts help develop self-awareness.
Magdalena Abakanowicz, a world-renowned sculptor, once said that “Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence”. Reflecting on this, helps us to realize that this is the truth. The arts have become a medium where we can express ourselves without fear of judgment. They allow us to experiment, and try new things. Self-awareness is so important that the Buddhist monks spend their whole lives trying to achieve it. At a basic level, self-awareness can simply be defined as recognizing that you are an essential part of the environment, and your decisions influence those around you. The arts play a key role in this because they encourage sharing and critiquing one another’s work.
A close cousin of self-awareness is self-esteem. This is feeling good and confident about the way that you are. The arts encourage both because they give you a goal to work towards. Accomplishing this goal increases confidence. The admiration of peers resulting from a personal creation or performance can also help boost self-esteem. Being a musician, I, Amanda, can attest to this. There is nothing better than the feeling of creating something and working really hard on it, only to excel and be complimented by my peers. This gives me confidence, and encourages me in my field. Being confidant of who you are is important beyond college, too. It can be the difference between an average job interview and an amazing one. Sometimes things do not go as well as I want them too. This builds character, and gives me a reason to try harder next time. This is also a trait, developed because of the arts, that is useful for life outside of the arts. The process of creating something out of nothing is creativity. This is, arguably, the most important skill that the arts develop.
Daniel Goleman a well known psychologist says, “When the creative spirit stirs, it animates a style of being: a lifetime filled with the desire to innovate, to explore new ways of doing things, to bring dreams of reality.” Analyzing this leads to the idea that creativity is what drives us to improve on what we have and what makes us willing to explore the unknown and find out its mysteries. Throughout history creativity was the stepping-stone into our greatest discoveries. Without people wanting to their lives and willingness to try a new idea we would not be where we are today. The arts foster creativity because they encourage all who take them to form an idea and then dig deeper to improve it. It can also be mentioned that the creativity from the arts teaches you that you your best answer is the least expected one. According to Goleman, this is because creativity makes us reach into our unconscious mind. That is why when you're relaxed and not really thinking you come up with your most creative ideas. The arts train people to tap into this part of our mind. Creativity can also be seen in the workplace. It is usually the people with the most original ideas that get promoted or receive recognition as a valuable member. This is because it shows management that they are thinking about the wellbeing of the establishment that they work for.
Creativity is not only for artist. It can be applied to almost every other discipline. One of the easiest disciplines to see the arts in is writing. When I am writing I, David, always use the creative process. I am constantly analyze things and wonder how it could be changed or what if I tried doing it to/like this. I am constantly thinking on how to improve my writing whether it is in word choice, format, or adding or taking away ideas to increase the effectiveness of my writing. I am not the only person who uses creativity outside of art though. He was not only an artist, but an inventor as well. He is the epitome of using creativity in the sciences. He was a great inventor because he utilized his ability to access his creative side to fulfill that natural need to improve on the world. without his willingness to try the most bizarre answers and desire to dig deeper we would not have a lot of the things we do such as helicopter, parachute, or even the theory of plate tectonics. You also see creativity in marketing. All due to being not only intelligent but also creative. People tend to remember something that stands out. So marketers have to use creativity to get their idea across in a new way by seeing what the competition is doing and figure out how to improve upon it. You can be as intelligent as you want, but you will make contribution to the world without the creativity to try something new.
Without art, music or dance what would remain? Surely, we do not want to exist in a cold, harsh, mathematical world. The arts help bring warmth, color and comfort to our lives. Furthermore, it is through the arts that we learn to think critically and abstractly. We learn about ourselves, and we come to realize that we are an integral part of the world. We learn to become creative, bringing joy to what could become mundane lives. At the most basic level, the arts are important because everything around us is designed to be aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, more often than not, we take the arts for granted.
Can you even imagine the long-term effects of sending students out into the world, lacking these skills? The desire to streamline education is understandable. However, please do not eliminate the arts from the liberal studies program. Doing so would cause us to lose an important part of our education: the part that brings color and creativity into our mundane lives. Rethink your education reform ideas, and welcome critical thinking, self-awareness and innovation back into schools.
With much concern,
Amanda Rissler and David Gordon
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