John Quincy Adams wrote,
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
The arts are the end goals of humankind’s growth. They are what make us most human, what bring joy and light to our lives.
A Michigan committee recently proposed sweeping changes to the Michigan curriculum; among a number of changes, it would replace the 1-credit fine/applied arts requirement with a 3-credit requirement encompassing, essentially, any non-tested subject (non-English language, arts, computer science, and all career/technical classes).
I do not argue that all of these classes aren’t important; however, I do believe that every…every…high school student should experience a fine art as part of their maturity into adulthood. The single credit is already more watered down than I would like, but the proposed change would make it possible to graduate at 18 with no exposure to any creative artistic experience.
This cannot be the best solution to the problem.
Every student. Every student. Every student needs to feel the power of the arts in their lives. It must not be left behind.
I highly encourage you to contact your legislators via this link to urge them to loudly support maintaining or enhancing the current arts curricula in Michigan.