Fine Arts Education Issues

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Fine Arts Education Issues

According to the National Art Education Association’s goals for schools, “all elementary schools shall require students to complete a sequential program of art instruction that integrates the study of art production, aesthetics, art criticism, and art history,” (Clark, 1987). Elementary schools are having difficulty because they are cutting back on the fine arts programming and many non-specialist classroom teachers are expected to integrate the fine arts into their daily curriculum. Most of these teachers feel inadequate and uncomfortable when teaching these subjects. The children are receiving inadequate lessons in art education. All elementary schools should expand their curriculum to include the fine arts as subjects, and licensed specialists should teach these subjects.

More or less, it isn’t the fact that there is a lack of fine arts education; there is a lack of specialists teaching fine arts in elementary schools. One reason for the lack of art specialists in the elementary schools is the fact that the fine arts aren’t considered core curriculum. The fine arts are thought of as expendable and not as important as mathematics, sciences, language, and literacy, when in fact Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences explains that there are several different ways of learning. “Gardner has identified eight "accepted" modes of learning: Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Mathematical, Musical, Naturalist, and Spatial. Traditional education emphasizes Linguistic and Mathematical Intelligences,” (Martin, 2000). Certain intelligences are enhanced through participation in the fine arts. This is why fine arts are actually equally as important as other core curriculum.

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