It has taken me four days to get my wits together and write this diary. I can't promise that it will be anything close to coherent. I just know one thing. We desperately need to elect Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. The humanity of our nation's children depends on it.
I have been teaching Art in the urban public schools of Miami for 26 years. I just lost my job, since any student who cannot score above a certain level on the FCAT exam that Jeb Bush instituted as a requirement for graduation does not receive any elective courses throughout their entire high school career.
It is a tragedy beyond my wildest nightmare.
When I say I lost my job, I need to qualify a bit. I am a member of an outstanding teacher's union, and our contract assures that I will have a place to teach for the rest of my career. I have no clue how far I will need to drive, what grade levels I need to plan for, or what the administration of the school will be like... but I will still be employed. That's the good news.
The bad news? Students like Stephen Bauman will no longer have the opportunity to redeem their lives in quite the same way.
Steve is now in Italy thanks to a scholarship, and that is the painting that sent him. When he first entered my classroom he was getting arrested every couple months for spraying paint on trains. I debated the merits of grafitti with him every day for three years, comparing it to a dog pissing on the street corner for all the other dogs to smell. Eventually it sunk in, and he turned his talents toward the canvas. Now he has a major collector hoarding his work, rather than an angry store owner covering it with wall paint.
(Thanks to yuriwho for this link to Steve's recent paintings. There are actually two self-portraits there, the smoker and the pink headband.)
For the past twelve years I have been teaching in an alternative school for troubled teens. Now they get no Art classes at all.
When I sat down to write this, I decided to google "Barack Obama Art in Schools". Here are the first two of my findings.
From Learning is Messy, in a comment by "Brian":
How can a student know if they are destined to be an artist if they have rarely been exposed to art? In our present situation students in primary grades focus only on literacy and math, they rarely do much more than simple drawing. No real art is taught. Science and social studies are only taught through reading class. PE is not funded despite the fact that students are increasingly obese. Students often have to pay extra fees to participate in sports, music and other extra-curricular activities ... so guess which schools have the highest participation? Student drop out rates are abysmal because for too many students school has little relevance.
That is the state of Education in America, and it is tragic. The worst part? Jeb Bush's cronies STILL make $20 for every FCAT test that a student takes in the state of Florida, and the test is the only thing that matters. Tragic.
Susan Kaiser Greenland caught scent of the antidote:
In stark contrast to McCain’s continued embrace of No Child Left Behind, and the nightmarish wave of fear and teaching to the test that has come in its wake, Obama again offered a nuanced approach. He didn’t discard testing altogether, and it was no surprise that he put teachers first by proposing economic incentives to bring the best and the brightest into the profession. But for those watching education he did something very interesting. He took the national stage to support a specific philosophy of learning — an integrative curriculum.
The idea of an integrated curriculum (where Arts and Physical Education are as much a part of core studies as traditional subjects like English, History, Math and Science) is well established and supported by research. Studies show that teaching Arts and PE improves academic performance, and new research links teaching social and emotional skills to a significant increase in achievement scores. But when our national priority is teaching to a single high-stakes test, there isn’t much time in the school day for these and other innovative programs.
Barack Obama is inspiring, even during one of the most depressing weeks of my life. As an artist it doesn't take much for me to be swept out of the blues, and this time the wave sounds like a call to arms.
We must elect this man in November. The humanity of our nation's children depends on it.
Please help me in this cause. Post your favorite Obama on Education links in the comments. We have an opportunity here. We can save the creative spirit of America.
Yes we can.