Philosophy

The philosophy that I have developed throughout the course of this semester seems to reflect my strong beliefs in a well-rounded education. I believe that the inclusion of art with regular and standard education is essential to complete this circle. Let me first explain what art is in the context of my philosophy. The art that I am speaking of is all art from performance arts of drama and music to the visual arts of design, painting, and other forms of visual art. Art is what I believe is beneficial and essential for education to fulfill its purposes. The goal of education is to produce citizens, by the time they exit high school and enter into post-secondary education, who have a deep understanding of the world and have had the chance to encounter all the areas of human knowledge. We want to expose our children and young students to all the possibilities for college and for careers and this means letting them have a chance to be creative through art as well.

“What Does it mean to Educate the Whole Child? by Nel Noddings, was an important influence on this opinion. He believes that education should be expected to educate children in areas other than over-working them in reading and mathematics. He believes that education is lacking in the sense of educating the whole child because something is missing. Art is what is missing. Art is what develops the critical, creative, and communicative processes of the brain. Art allows students and young people to explore through visual language and create new things. Art allows people to think deeply about what they see in front of them and critically analyze its successes and failures. Art also allows people to express and communicate their ideas for a better world and community as well as allow them to express their personal feelings. There are certain functions of art that can be taught through visual processes that can benefit and enrich the total education system.

Creativity is probably the most important contribution art makes to the education system, as obvious as that sounds. Creativity is a crucial element to progress in human civilizations. Scientists and mathematicians alike both need creativity throughout their careers. They need to be able to see into the future and imagine what no one else sees. They need to imagine the potential for many things that will help people, such as developing new vaccines, engineering safer buildings, and creating better technology. Mathematicians use their imaginations constantly as well. My mathematical ideas professor this semester, Vince Corvo, has continuously stressed this idea. He has helped me to see that all mathematics is, is the study of abstract patterns and the most important function is not logic, but the ability to imagine and make assumptions based off of epiphanies of the imagination. They need to be able to make an assumption about an abstract mathematical concept or pattern and develop the theorems that we see in modern mathematics. Other skills such as communication teaches people to accept others and have empathy for their cultures and promotes diversity. The skill of being able to think critically is also important because it teaches people to be critical of themselves and what is around them, all in concordance with imagining a better world and community.

My philosophy about art education therefore all comes down to this simple statement. I have a personal belief that art is essential to education and belongs in the circle of education with our standards of math, science, social science, health sciences, philosophy, language, and history. Education is the gift of knowledge, therefore we should give this gift to all students through all means of education in our schools and society.