There’s a trend in school systems to remove “useless” classes like art, music, drama, gym, etc. in order to save money. There’s a group of kids that did a great job with a video on the subject:
While I agree with the sentiment, I think people are approaching this wrong. The argument time and time again from the schools is that they don’t have the money for these programs, they’re busy teaching what kids need for standardized testing.
Ok.
Think for a moment.
Why not lobby your congressional representatives to get arts and physical fitness requirements built into those tests?
It makes sense really, being able to think creatively is a valuable skill. Sure, 2 plus 2 equals 4, but what do you do when you’re on an engineering project and the structure’s off the marks by 2 cm and the bolts won’t fit? Someone who can think creatively, who can innovate can come up with a solution that’s outside the box. Getting a group of band kids together to play their hearts out on main street is a good way to attract attention, but it’s not the way that the school’s work. Schools aren’t run by people, they’re run by manuals and regulations and drones implementing that mountain of drudgery. So the trick is to get your cause into that mountain.
I’m not saying the standards aren’t important; Heaven knows if I knew what I did about doing my taxes or computing water/investment ratios for mixing up a casting mold, I would have paid more attention in math class. Don’t dump the standards, but don’t sacrifice innovative thinking in the bargain.