(Originally posted 2002/10/5)
I keep asking...
I don't want to engage in a battle of statistics. They only tell a fraction of the story, and when it comes to issues of how things are perceived by the various constituencies within a school environment, they may only tell things people want heard.
I have a background in the arts. Teaching the arts, particularly music, is mostly coaching and dealing with a complex of problems all at once alongside the student. To me, it is an ideal framework in which to discuss educational reforms.
I teach computers now. Technology education has not fully embraced all of the wisdom available to it, but, at least it is on a leading edge of educational reform. Right now, technology education is a vehicle for change, but it is not the only place that such change can take place.
If one puts the arts in historical perspective, a path emerges that embraces invention, experimentation with new media, new techniques, and new theories to accommodate it all. A similar path can be seen for science and technology. It's strange to me that the current climate of thought in education doesn't seem to want to connect these two dots and develop artistic thinking alongside scientific thinking as mutually beneficial.
