Gary Bates Testimony
Robert M. Bennett, Chancellor
New York State Board of Regents
201 Millwood Lane
Tonawanda, NY 14150
Dear Chancellor Bennett and The Board of Regents:
Leaving my home in Nebraska and crossing the Mississippi to begin a new life as a Visual Arts educator in New York in 1970 was a big move. I found "Art" as my sophomore year as a pre-medical student at Nebraska Wesleyan University. It was my zoology professor who encouraged me to take an Art course because my lab book drawings appeared to be impressive to him. I never had the opportunity to study Art K-12 with an Art teacher let alone a certified Art educator as a public school student in Nebraska. I personally know the value and the importance Art can play in self-development and career choice as I left medicine to follow my real passion in life. I am not sorry I made this choice. My earnings as a Visual Arts Educator have brought me more riches than I could have hoped for as a pediatrician.
Currently much research indicates how important the Visual Arts are in training our medical students as well as other students in academic disciplines. In Mitchell Gordon Miglis' recent article, Science and Art: Beauty and Mystery, I found the following poignant quote, "Just as the conception and creation of great art requires knowledge of certain scientific concepts (the mathematics of musical composition, the color theory of painting, the grammar and syntax of poetry), the practice of science is equally reliant on the artistic sense of discovery." As Vice President of NYSATA and an NYS Visual Arts educator and Supervisor of Art PreK-12 at the Lawrence Public Schools for over thirty years I would respectfully submit our collegial concerns and thoughts on why we need to make the least disruptive changes to our current mandates for sequential standards based Visual Arts education on the Middle Level.
We remain seriously concerned that the suggested revisions do not directly address the true and valuable importance of the linchpin that holds together standards based sequential student learning in the Visual Arts. The policy revisions do not contain any direct reference to the way that the arts will be holistically incorporated into the structure of middle-level education. At this point in time we feel these proposal revisions would jeopardize the four learning standards for the arts that the Regents have so proudly endorsed and incorporated into the 28 standards.
We are concerned that the introduction of the revision identifies adolescents as being typically ages 10-14. When did a ten year old become adolescent? Sequential standards based Visual Arts learning and curriculum could be drastically changed on this level and is highly detrimental to the evolutionary growth processes pre K-16. Our curriculum nurtures and supports this growth at a sometimes-awkward time for many students developmentally. The necessary skill development that occurs in the middle-level only supports the future development of all students, as well as, those desiring high levels of education or careers in the arts.
Considering that the third largest area of employment in New York State, is the arts it is most important we continue our quest to prepare and support our young adolescents to meet personal and professional career needs for the future of our culture and economy.
"Although the arts are often thought to be closer to the rim of education than to its core, they are surprisingly, critically important means for developing complex and subtle aspects of the mind", argues Elliot Eisner in his latest book The ARTS and the CREATION of the MIND. In his book he describes how various forms of thinking are refined through the arts and how important they are in dealing with the ambiguities and uncertainties of daily life, more important in his opinion than the formally structured curricula that are employed today in schools.
We believe the importance the middle-level plays developmentally cannot be undervalued or diminished in developing these various forms of thinking. In order to meet the multiple needs of our growing students the Visual Arts not only serve as a catalyst in support of learning in every academic discipline but also as part of the core of human development. We believe the Visual Arts should be at the center of a holistic education in New York State. The mere mention in the report that there needs to be "Connections among and across the different subjects and disciplines" is not enough to support the importance of Arts education as part of the total curriculum nor is it enough to convince all constituents in the educational community including parents that the "Arts" are important at this developmental level.
We live in difficult times where standards are important and therefore creative solutions need to be adopted. Children need to be enthusiastic about school, explore alternatives appropriate to their age-level and as members of the twenty-first century be nurtured and immersed in all their studies. Finally, exposure to the Arts offers our minority children, representing the largest drop out rate, to opportunity to identify with not just their own culture but also many cultures through sequential standards based arts education. The Arts celebrate diversity in our schools fostering higher thinking levels, participation and better attendance of all students including those with special needs or in jeopardy of failure.
We concur that the redesign and implementation of the Regents Policy Statement on Middle-Level Education to meet the needs of the twenty first century is necessary, however, philosophically the core of this design should be creativity. Without creativity this implementation and the protection of the enforcement of the current mandates the Visual Arts position on the Middle School will loose its current sequentially important position in our Middle Schools. The sequential developmental stages addressed in the Middle-Level 6th, 7th and 8th grades Visual Arts curriculum form the firm ground for future development of our Visual Arts curriculum in the high school. Holistically these stages support not only self-development but also Art Appreciation, Aesthetic Awareness and Visual Literacy. They form the foundation for future sequencing in Art as well as career development in the Visual Arts for adolescents entering high school.
We strongly feel achievement will continue to improve in our Middle Schools on all levels when students are allowed to continue to incorporate the Visual Arts with their intellectual, social, emotional, physical, psychological and academic growth through creative resolution. We hope the preparers of these revisions and The Regents fully recognize all the needs of our middle-level children in their challenge to finalize resolutions to meet the Visual Arts needs of our Middle-Level children and again offer our assistance in assuring implementation of the policy will leave no artistically challenged child behind in meeting our mutual educational goals.
Sincerely,
Gary L. Bates,
Vice President of NYSATA
CC: Richard P. Mills, Commissioner of Education
James A. Kadamus, Deputy Commissioner of Education
