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Authors: Bentley Little
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art, and how much music and literature had meant to her over the years. That gave her an idea, and she decided to set aside her lesson plans for the day and have a discussion in each of her classes not about what they were studying but why. In these test-mad days, where parents were concerned about educational competition with other countries and politicians downplayed anything that did not lead directly to a specific job track, she thought it would be a good idea to talk about the importance of subjects that fed the soul rather than the résumé.
Her first class of the day was twelfth graders, and that was perfect. They were the ones about to go out into the big wide world, and they were the ones who most needed to think about the why of things rather than just the what.
She shut off the music and unlocked her door. The campus was coming alive now. She heard voices and footsteps in the hall, and when she glanced through the window at the quad down below, she saw that it was filling with students. Soon they would be coming in to class.
She was safe.
That was an odd reaction.
But an honest one.
Shed discovered this morning that she did not like being alone on campus anymore, and Linda decided that maybe shed talk to Diane and the two of them could start carpooling together every day instead of just every once in a while.
The students were in their seats by the time the second bell rang. There was one absencea girl named Olivia whom she could not yet put a face toand after the announcements and the pledge, Linda told everyone to put down their pens and pencils. They were just going to talk for a while. No note taking.
She leaned against her desk. What is the purpose of art? she asked the class, and was met by a sea of blank faces.
I thought this was an English class, Antonio Gonzalez piped up.
Im not talking about art in terms of painting or sculpture, but art in general. The visual arts, of course, but also music andshe spread her hands dramaticallyliterature. As in . . . English! She looked again around the room. So why do we need art? What do you think it is about human beings that makes art a necessary and important ingredient in our lives?
The conversation did not go the way shed imagined. In fact, it wasnt a conversation at all. More like a monologue. Or a lecture. She ended up telling them why art was important, though her goal had been to lead them to discover it for themselves. Linda told herself that maybe it was too early in the year for something free-form like this. The kids were just getting to know her; she was just getting to know them; the sense of trust and intimacy that would be theirs later in the semester had not yet been established. But then she realized that she did know most of these students. Three-fourths of them had been in one of her junior or sophomore classes. Unfamiliarity with one another was not a legitimate excuse.
No, the fact was that her students simply didnt want to be led along the path she was trying to take them. Her entire premise seemed foreign to them, and by the time second period rolled around, she had abandoned her attempt at discussion and returned to her original lesson plan.
It was discouraging, how little kids today thought about anything beyond the facts and figures placed directly in front of them. For all the commercials, movies and television shows stressing the importance of thinking outside the box, very few young people possessed the ability to do so. And schools were not teaching those skills. It was a world of standardized learning now, and as an educator she was expected to teach to the test so their schools scores would go up and they would get more money. It almost made her think that maybe this charter experiment wasnt such a bad idea if it gave teachers more latitude to introduce alternative methods of
Her first class of the day was twelfth graders, and that was perfect. They were the ones about to go out into the big wide world, and they were the ones who most needed to think about the why of things rather than just the what.
She shut off the music and unlocked her door. The campus was coming alive now. She heard voices and footsteps in the hall, and when she glanced through the window at the quad down below, she saw that it was filling with students. Soon they would be coming in to class.
She was safe.
That was an odd reaction.
But an honest one.
Shed discovered this morning that she did not like being alone on campus anymore, and Linda decided that maybe shed talk to Diane and the two of them could start carpooling together every day instead of just every once in a while.
The students were in their seats by the time the second bell rang. There was one absencea girl named Olivia whom she could not yet put a face toand after the announcements and the pledge, Linda told everyone to put down their pens and pencils. They were just going to talk for a while. No note taking.
She leaned against her desk. What is the purpose of art? she asked the class, and was met by a sea of blank faces.
I thought this was an English class, Antonio Gonzalez piped up.
Im not talking about art in terms of painting or sculpture, but art in general. The visual arts, of course, but also music andshe spread her hands dramaticallyliterature. As in . . . English! She looked again around the room. So why do we need art? What do you think it is about human beings that makes art a necessary and important ingredient in our lives?
The conversation did not go the way shed imagined. In fact, it wasnt a conversation at all. More like a monologue. Or a lecture. She ended up telling them why art was important, though her goal had been to lead them to discover it for themselves. Linda told herself that maybe it was too early in the year for something free-form like this. The kids were just getting to know her; she was just getting to know them; the sense of trust and intimacy that would be theirs later in the semester had not yet been established. But then she realized that she did know most of these students. Three-fourths of them had been in one of her junior or sophomore classes. Unfamiliarity with one another was not a legitimate excuse.
No, the fact was that her students simply didnt want to be led along the path she was trying to take them. Her entire premise seemed foreign to them, and by the time second period rolled around, she had abandoned her attempt at discussion and returned to her original lesson plan.
It was discouraging, how little kids today thought about anything beyond the facts and figures placed directly in front of them. For all the commercials, movies and television shows stressing the importance of thinking outside the box, very few young people possessed the ability to do so. And schools were not teaching those skills. It was a world of standardized learning now, and as an educator she was expected to teach to the test so their schools scores would go up and they would get more money. It almost made her think that maybe this charter experiment wasnt such a bad idea if it gave teachers more latitude to introduce alternative methods of
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