Monday, December 01, 2008

arts education: a week-long cyber discussion



Mosey over here and sample 16 bloggers (educators, actors, artists, critics, administrators -- even violinist Midori and director Peter Sellars -- talking about how to improve it.
Two good examples: surgeons who are good at videogames perform better at laparoscopy; engineers who take acting classes are better at communicating their ideas.
The arts teach empathy.
One thing that strikes Bobo is that the justification is difficult (Why not let the market decide how popular the arts are? Why NOT regard the arts as expendable electives instead of necessary components in school curricula?) because the payoff takes so long: Take a kid to the theater today; he may spend the next 20 years resenting how you forced him to go; but in his 30s or 40s, he'll come around.

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