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A Student Perspective on the Importance
of the Arts in Education
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Composed of more than 50 leading educators
and artists, the National Task Force on the Arts
in Education (NTFAE) was created in 2008 to address the opportunities and challenges facing
arts education in the United States. For the past
two years, the task force has compiled recommendations on how the College Board can integrate the arts into its own programming, and effect positive change in arts education policies on national, state and local levels. Last month, NTFAE steering committee member Pamela Paulson sat down with Sam Ekren, a senior focusing in media arts at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, to get a student’s perspective on the importance of the arts in education and the NTFAE’s recommendations.
How have the arts been infused across the curriculum in your school? And how has this
impacted your learning?
The arts are integrated into a lot of my classes so I get to use my art in other subjects, like Urban Geography. Instead of having to write a final paper, I was able to do a 20-minute documentary video on the Wal-Mart that moved into Park Rapids, a town near my home. I did a lot of research and many interviews as I created this video. This was a great investigation for me to learn about this situation that had raised some real concerns, and express my findings through my art form — media arts.
I also have integrated media arts into my English class, Mass Media and Democracy. We were supposed to create informational flyers about a current social issue. I used my photography skills to create the images I wanted to use along with the text. I worked on issues like water conservation and “paper vs. plastic.”
This kind of learning is really important to me because I get to be involved in issues in the community, rather than just learning facts from a book. It allows you to actually do something -- then you need to find out the facts so they can support your perspective. In my old high school, the focus was on the textbook — just reading, writing and memorizing. Then you forget the material. When you are using art to learn, it sticks with you because you remember the art you made and that helps you remember other parts of the learning.
How have your arts experiences promoted your creativity and critical thinking?
When you are working in the arts, you have to think more. You can’t just come up with something that looks nice — you have to think about things that have meaning and cause you and other people to think It is about using your creativity to come up with new ideas, not just doing something technically correct. In order to be the best, you have to have good technical skills and good ideas.
I like to connect my art to current issues. And when I (or my peers) do that, other students see that it has meaning. Then they aren’t satisfied if their art doesn’t have this depth, and they usually go back and make their artwork more meaningful and relevant.
How have professional artists been incorporated into your courses and school experiences?
We have professional artists come to work with us in our classes. Today we are supposed to have a screenwriter come talk with us. We also had a speaker who had just directed his first film. He invited us to come to his opening screening, and when we got there he remembered us — it was great.
It is important to have these kinds of experiences because this is what we are studying, and these are real experiences. I am currently curating a film festival at a museum in town. This kind of experience is important because I get to see the work that goes on behind the scenes in selecting films. It is likely that I will do more filmmaking in college. I will probably do more independent work, rather than the Hollywood-type stuff, but who knows where things will go? I have applied to several different kinds of schools and programs.
Has it been important for you to be in an environment where there are students studying dance, music, theater and visual arts as well as media arts?
I am influenced by having all of the different arts around. I may be most influenced by the visual arts students because photography is similar to the visual work in assignments like photomontage. I also like having the music program here so I can work one-on-one with students to create videos. We did a video poetry assignment together and since then I have worked with music students several times.
What are some of the advantages you have had by being in an arts-rich school?
The biggest standout for me has been how much more prepared I am for applying to college. Portfolios are such an important part of this process, and I learned so much about how to develop a good portfolio.
Doing a portfolio in photography made it easier for me to find my style. When you lay out all of the photos and you can see everything over time, it seems pretty clear. I saw that I was doing mostly portraiture. And my approach is to have something just a little out of place so that the person seeing it asks, “What are they doing?” These are not standard portraits — it is more of an artistic approach. I could see these photos being in a gallery or in a fashion magazine. I ask myself if the intention is to be about fashion and a product, or is it about making art?
I have found that overall, studying the arts can be prepping you for a career even while it gives you a chance to make your artistic statements.
Sam Ekren is a senior at the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, Minn., with a focus in media arts. His home is Nevis, Minn., a rural town in the northern part of the state.
Pamela Paulson is senior director of policy at the Perpich Center for Arts Education and serves as co-chair of the College Board Arts Academic Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the College Board National Task Force on the Arts in Education steering committee.
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