Housewives in Salt Lake City, UT have found that adding their own special touches to a piece of art for their home makes it a much more intriguing and personal item. This can happen when one embroiders a name onto a garment, or when one paints an item they purchased elsewhere. Hobby stores have noted this trend, and many not only sell the ceramic pieces, but also provide a place to paint pottery.
This is an activity that families can do together, in fact, and it is very beneficial to all members of the household. Teens get to perfect their artistic skills, tweens learn to focus on one thing for long periods of time, and young children work on motor coordination. Those find motor skills are going to help these youngsters as they learn to write.
Such activities are becoming more and more important these days, as many public school systems are taking elective art classes out of their curriculum entirely. They want to focus only on the classes which require total linear right-brained thinking, and this is a shame. As usual, public schools educate for a life of cubicles or service-industry jobs rather than encouraging free thought, artistic expression, and fostering the ability to see new ways to approach a problem.
For many students, these electives are the only part of the school day that matters, and removing them will only discourage already frustrated students. The attrition rate in public schools gets higher and higher each year, and so-called experts all want to act like they do not understand why this is happening. It is obvious to anyone paying attention that students who struggle with the reading, writing, and arithmetic curriculum were still excelling in art, music, and often science or literature.
Each year the numbers of students who drop out rather than graduate in the usual way becomes more and more nebulous. The frustrated students who do hang on till the end often do so because they are part of clubs in the school which allow them to pursue the arts still, or at least grant them understanding ears to hear them. The standardized testing system which was put in place during the 90s has been a sore subject for many creative-minded students because it requires them to have a learning style of rote memorization, which many do not possess.
What they are finding is that many of these activities may have been so poorly scheduled in schools so as to discourage students from taking it. By ramming in more classes, they can graduate others more quickly. By keeping standardized tests as part of their curriculum, teachers can focus all their attention to sending girls and boys off for "Creative education".
This push to get children into special education classes in order to grant them simplified tests, or no testing at all, has another edge to it known as Ritalin or Adderall. In the modern classroom, about 30% of the students are on some form of mind-altering medication in order to help them "concentrate". The fact is, by removing art, music, and physical education; they have created the perfect storm for active minds held captive to express themselves as active bodies.
It is unclear whether or not pursuing artistic endeavors outside the educational setting will encourage students to stay in school or not, but it is a social test worth conducting. Even if the rate of attrition in public schools does continue, at least those students will have a better rounded experience overall because they have the ability to paint a portrait or play a song. The hope is that, with the proper creative outlets available, most any student will be better able to endure the boredom of the Three Rs.
This is an activity that families can do together, in fact, and it is very beneficial to all members of the household. Teens get to perfect their artistic skills, tweens learn to focus on one thing for long periods of time, and young children work on motor coordination. Those find motor skills are going to help these youngsters as they learn to write.
Such activities are becoming more and more important these days, as many public school systems are taking elective art classes out of their curriculum entirely. They want to focus only on the classes which require total linear right-brained thinking, and this is a shame. As usual, public schools educate for a life of cubicles or service-industry jobs rather than encouraging free thought, artistic expression, and fostering the ability to see new ways to approach a problem.
For many students, these electives are the only part of the school day that matters, and removing them will only discourage already frustrated students. The attrition rate in public schools gets higher and higher each year, and so-called experts all want to act like they do not understand why this is happening. It is obvious to anyone paying attention that students who struggle with the reading, writing, and arithmetic curriculum were still excelling in art, music, and often science or literature.
Each year the numbers of students who drop out rather than graduate in the usual way becomes more and more nebulous. The frustrated students who do hang on till the end often do so because they are part of clubs in the school which allow them to pursue the arts still, or at least grant them understanding ears to hear them. The standardized testing system which was put in place during the 90s has been a sore subject for many creative-minded students because it requires them to have a learning style of rote memorization, which many do not possess.
What they are finding is that many of these activities may have been so poorly scheduled in schools so as to discourage students from taking it. By ramming in more classes, they can graduate others more quickly. By keeping standardized tests as part of their curriculum, teachers can focus all their attention to sending girls and boys off for "Creative education".
This push to get children into special education classes in order to grant them simplified tests, or no testing at all, has another edge to it known as Ritalin or Adderall. In the modern classroom, about 30% of the students are on some form of mind-altering medication in order to help them "concentrate". The fact is, by removing art, music, and physical education; they have created the perfect storm for active minds held captive to express themselves as active bodies.
It is unclear whether or not pursuing artistic endeavors outside the educational setting will encourage students to stay in school or not, but it is a social test worth conducting. Even if the rate of attrition in public schools does continue, at least those students will have a better rounded experience overall because they have the ability to paint a portrait or play a song. The hope is that, with the proper creative outlets available, most any student will be better able to endure the boredom of the Three Rs.
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