U. to lead the way in arts education

Much has been said about the role the arts play in the educational development of our young people. Some contend that music, dance, the visual arts, theater and other forms of human expression have little or no place in traditional book learning, that they teach no "practical" skill or trade and play a small role in the advancement of seemingly more useful subjects such as mathematics, science and economics.

We contend that the arts are the very breath of discovery, a force that drives any and all learning, and that without their influence the educational process would be nothing more than the accumulation of facts and their mindless regurgitation.

As a powerful learning tool, the synergy of art and education is a true phenomenon, one that we need to nurture, promote and ensure that all current and future educators are able to experience. While standardized tests certainly have a strong role to play in school accountability, alone they simply cannot detect or measure the full range of learning we want to encourage in young people.

When we include the arts in classroom curricula, we can profoundly change the way our children learn and give educators a critical resource for increasing motivation, promoting higher attendance, preventing behavioral problems and academic failure and improving academic achievement.

So why is this approach not already used today in our universities and colleges? Unfortunately, arts and education faculty in colleges and other programs traditionally prepare their teachers separately and operate completely independent of one another. This dynamic has resulted in isolated pockets of understanding, innovation and excel- lence.

It is clear that educational leaders, in partnership with families, the arts community and policymakers, must work together to develop innovative new strategies for instruction and for measuring student learning. In an ever-changing world where proactive thinking and pre-emptive problem solving has turned into an "art form" itself, the need for the arts as an integral part of public education is more critical now than ever before.