Taking the drama out of schools

I am sitting here watching the Tony’s on TV and yet I must admit that I have no sympathy for the constant complaints about cutting the arts from schools. I’m sorry but I just don’t get it. The arts, to me, are filled with egotistical people who display themselves or their work in public, be it via drama, music, art or literature (get that – literature, never simply “books”) in the hopes of getting applauds and adulation. How sad is that when you think about it. Yet they have done a marvelous job of brainwashing us that these arts must be included in school. I now feel like the child about to point out that the emperor has no clothes but why are their professions of such importance that they must be taught in school? We use to teach children how to cook, do woodwork and even basic car mechanics. So why aren’t chefs demanding that cooking classes be added back into the curriculum or mechanics requiring that their skills continue to be taught in middle school? It seems to me that knowing how to change a tire and make a decent meal would be a lot more useful for a child to learn than art appreciation.

And why are the arts so respected by educators while occupations that deal with making a profit are considered to be crass? Again, learning how to write a resume or how to fill in a W2 form would be more useful to a young person then how to distinguish a Monet from Manet. It is ridiculous to think that most of society has a greater respect for adults who spend their time playing make believe than they do for people who make products we need and services we use.

To make the topic even more ludicrous is the fact that when the arts are taught then understanding and critiquing a poem, song or play is purely subjective. Who’s to say if it is good or horrible? Impressionable children are pretty much at the mercy of their arts, music and drama teachers. The Oscars awards for best movie clearly shows a deep divide between what those in the arts profession admire and what the general population actually goes to see. They had to increase the nominees for Best Movie recently because in prior years no one other than actors and actresses had seen the handful of movies that had been nominated.

Speaking of which, when did actresses decide they wanted to be called actors? If they were so determined to deny their womanhood and be seen on par with men then it seems to me that they should have a Best Actor Oscar, period, and let them compete with men for the one award. But no, as usual, women want the best of both worlds. They want to be called actors and yet they still want to have their Best Actress Award. Makes no sense to me.

Finally, there is one other well kept secret when it comes to the arts – if you aren’t that interested in the arts you are not that alone. In spite of what you are led to believe there are a lot of people who are not the least bit interested in the arts. Of course the artsy folks would denigrate the nonartsy people, using terms such as philistines and unsophisticated. This is especially true if the nonartsy person is {gasp}a sports lovers. Yet why are sports always portrayed so dismally? It takes great strength, grace even for an outfielder to leap for a catch, or the exquisite timing needed for a full court press or the acting to bluff for the fake end run. There is more skill, passion and excitement in a good sporting event than in a Surrealism painting or an off off off Broadway show. Yet no one has ever fought to include educational sports in school, not simply PE but teaching the finer points of basketball and football. Imagine what that would do to male-female relationships every Sunday afternoon in the fall!

Seriously, this summer most towns will be battling over budget cuts. One of the major issues will be if arts should be retained in schools. This is why you hear ads with Broadway and Hollywood stars and musicians passionately arguing that the arts must be kept in the schools. They insinuate that you should be ashamed if you try to get rid of arts from the curriculum because we are a civilized nation that knows the importance of the arts, right? Don’t let them fool you. There isn’t anything more special about art skills than about cooking or mechanics or fashion designing yet no one is arguing to have these in our schools. It was a great con all these years but now with limited funds we must end the farce of institutionalizing arts in school and concentrate on the basics first.