I don't want to embarrass Governor Daniels or Dr.Bennett, but I have not read nor heard about any new initiatives from the State Dept. of Education to support or preserve existing fine arts programs in our public schools. This evening I spoke with Dale Chu, Asst. Supt. for Policy, Legal and Communications Operations for the I.D.O.E. I asked him if he knew the extent of fine arts program cuts over the past three years. He answered that he did not and I am certain the I.D.O.E. does not record data on fine arts program cuts.
The I.D.O.E. may say publicly it supports children's public school fine arts programs in Indiana, but where I come from, actions speak louder than words. Significant cuts were made in 2009 and 2010.
The recent cuts in New Albany are very alarming because it represents a pattern of continued degradation and narrowing of the education curricula for 1.1 million children who attend Indiana public schools.
A citizenry prepared to take on the immense challenges of the 21st Century cannot be developed if high quality learning experiences and programs that optimize the refinement of the imagination, capacity for innovation and creative problem solving are cut out of the school curricula.
Our children's creativity is a national resource we cannot afford to waste.
We cannot afford future failures of imagination.
You can contact Dr. Bennett's office here:
http://www.doe.in.gov/superintendent/
Contact Governor Daniels here:
http://www.in.gov/gov/2631.htm
Back in the 1990's a group of art teachers and I approached then Governor Bayh about implementing arts standards in Indiana. He was favorable about the idea and assigned an aide to work with us. We spent months on the standards and submitted them to the aide to give to the governor. Unknown to us, the aide had been fired and the standards never made it to Evan's office. I'm glad Bob Sabol was able to finally get this implemented. Until NCLB puts more emphasis on the arts, I think we are sunk. I know many art programs are being eliminated next school year.
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