A LOST ART

by Stephanie A. Daniel

A long time ago, when I and others of my generation were in grade school, our school day was spent learning the 3 R's - reading, (w)riting, and 'rithmatic. And in some cases, including mine, a fourth "R" would be added several days a week - religion. Day in and day out, we were expected to read passages of some story or another, write a paper of said story, comparing and contrasting the main characters, and, when it came to math, God forbid if you were the one to get called to the blackboard to solve the hardest division problem from last night's homework, and don't you dare forget to explain your answer. Oh, and that fourth "R" - religion: comparing verses of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Yes, it was all very necessary, and very beneficial to us all, if we wanted to grow up to be intelligent and productive human beings. Personally, I loved school. I have always enjoyed the learning process and social interaction that all schools are supposed to provide. But my favorite class was none of the above. My favorite class was Art. Several times a week, I would enter the art room and just get lost in the possibilities of what was to come. Learning how to create with ones hands came just after a creative thought process would pass through my brain, and I couldn't wait to put it to paper, or to canvas, or to build it. I was always quite good in art class. Amongst my classmates, I seemed to be the one who possessed the talent to draw just about anything with just the right shading and lines, and in the right proportion. More than my favorite subject, back then it felt as though art class was a kind of release, a kind of class where we all could be free thinkers and express ourselves by way of a paintbrush, a slab of clay, a stick of charcoal.

Back then, art class was a given. Just like math class, science class, social studies and history, art class was part of the regular school day, part of the regular school curriculum. But those days are long, long gone. Today, a child is considered lucky if he or she has art class at all. Today, children are responsible for bringing their own art supplies to school and maybe, on that rare day when the homeroom teacher can squeeze in 30 minutes before dismissal, the students are asked to take out their crayons and colored markers to make a picture to adorn the walls of the classroom.

For the last 7 or 8 years, the importance of art classes as a regular part of the school day, has been lost. Budget restraints and/or budget cuts have forced school principals and officials to come up with alternate ways to educate our children in the arts. Little by little, I see the traditional art teacher going the way of the dinosaur...Slowly becoming extinct! This includes music classes as well. Gone are the days where a student could go the art room several times a week, even once a week, to be free to create a beautiful picture, using a new and different kind of medium, such as pastels, or acrylic paint. Expressing oneself, by way of creative thought process, is something that many school children of today will probably never experience, and that is very sad. Principals are forced to adjust their school staffing needs to accommodate the increasing enrollment of public school students. If one needs to hire an additional classroom teacher because the class size is so large, the salary of that additional teacher must come from somewhere. Usually, the art or music teacher is the first to be let go. I have seen situations where a school security guard had to be hired to ensure the safety of students as well as teachers during the school day. Funding for that security guard’s position had to come from the schools' yearly budget. What to cut? What isn't absolutely necessary? The art teacher.

I beg to differ. Those children who struggle with their daily lesson plans, those students who look forward to some sort of outlet for their creativity, be it art or music, will be lost. Artistic expression in any form is a strong base for individuality. How is a child going to know that he or she has talent and promise in the creative arts, if there is no one to show that child what possibilities lay before him or her.

I hope this trend changes very soon. I hope that these children, who may not know the joys of positive, creative environments in the school in which they attend, can seek other outlets for their creative endeavours whether its after school art classes, Saturday art classes, or just visiting their local Art Museum or Art Galleries on a regular basis. I hope that these children don't become... A LOST ART.