Why aren’t art classes pass/fail?

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand why we have art and not language classes. If they pay for an art teacher why couldn’t they pay for Spanish or French? If you ever want to be fluent you need to start in kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why we have art and not language classes. If they pay for an art teacher why couldn’t they pay for Spanish or French? If you ever want to be fluent you need to start in kindergarten

Because most American kids will get more out of art, music, and gym classes than they will out of being fluent in French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

You think if they didn't have art they'd magically spend that hour reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a grade is fine, but the grades for PE, music, art, should be for effort, not for the quality of the result. The exception for music and art, IMO, is that it’s fine to grade on results for assignments that test your knowledge, such as a test on various techniques or facts. I don’t think the teacher should grade on whether she thinks a picture is good - it’s too subjective. If we didn’t know the name of the artist, we’d probably give a lot of failing grades to art that is in MOMA.

People might say the same about the writing I grade, but I can tell the difference between an A or a B essay, though I'm sure students and parents would claim it's all "subjective."

[Anonymous]

Art-adjacent teacher here.

I think people like to simplify the objectives of art.

In many project briefs, teachers are asking for students to do specific, clear things: this could be "use only these tools" or "identify a style and emulate it" or "create two iterative drafts before your final" and you'd be shocked how many students are like "I don't need to actually do that...I can just make the art."

Well, I suppose so. But if you don't turn in a draft for an English essay, or don't solve the math problem and show work the way the teacher asks you do, or if you use the wrong list of Spanish vocab to write your paragraph, then you're not getting an A, right?

Maybe your kid did all the things right and the teacher is nasty. But in my personal experience, the former is far more likely (and sometime the kid doesn't even understand that because they make assumptions and don't care or read instructions thoroughly).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

Luckily for kids and the rest of society you are not setting the schedule/requirement. The rest of us wants well rounded and sane individuals, and realize the arts and p.e. contribute to that.

+1 It's also entirely backwards because we KNOW, empirically, that art and music contribute to literacy and numeracy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why we have art and not language classes. If they pay for an art teacher why couldn’t they pay for Spanish or French? If you ever want to be fluent you need to start in kindergarten

Special teachers are not easily found, whether art or foreign language. Just because someone has a skill set does necessarily make them a teacher, not a teacher that works well with ES age kids. Further, working to develop fluency at the ES would require that students leet with a Foriegn language teacher more frequently which means most schools would need several teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

Luckily for kids and the rest of society you are not setting the schedule/requirement. The rest of us wants well rounded and sane individuals, and realize the arts and p.e. contribute to that.

+1 It's also entirely backwards because we KNOW, empirically, that art and music contribute to literacy and numeracy.

Definitely. Learning about music and rhythm is a great way to understand fractions and patterns. Art fundamentals are a great way to demonstrate composition, balance and conceptual thinking—all things that help, not hurt, reading comprehension and writing skills.

[Anonymous]

FTR, the class is ceramics. Ceramics. You do the best you can, and then the oven takes over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

Luckily for kids and the rest of society you are not setting the schedule/requirement. The rest of us wants well rounded and sane individuals, and realize the arts and p.e. contribute to that.

+1 It's also entirely backwards because we KNOW, empirically, that art and music contribute to literacy and numeracy.

Definitely. Learning about music and rhythm is a great way to understand fractions and patterns. Art fundamentals are a great way to demonstrate composition, balance and conceptual thinking—all things that help, not hurt, reading comprehension and writing skills.

Lol.

What do you think actually happens in these classes at a mcps high school?

I enjoyed music appreciation and art classes at my fancy private high school, but I assure you that my kids are not having the same experience in their mcps high school. As if!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

Luckily for kids and the rest of society you are not setting the schedule/requirement. The rest of us wants well rounded and sane individuals, and realize the arts and p.e. contribute to that.

+1 It's also entirely backwards because we KNOW, empirically, that art and music contribute to literacy and numeracy.

Definitely. Learning about music and rhythm is a great way to understand fractions and patterns. Art fundamentals are a great way to demonstrate composition, balance and conceptual thinking—all things that help, not hurt, reading comprehension and writing skills.

Lol.

What do you think actually happens in these classes at a mcps high school?

I enjoyed music appreciation and art classes at my fancy private high school, but I assure you that my kids are not having the same experience in their mcps high school. As if!

High school music programs are teaching how to read music? My 8th grader in a crappy middle school has gotten pretty good at it.

And I’m not sure what fancy about those art concepts, which are often introduced at the elementary school level.

[Anonymous]

^^ I mean aren’t teaching

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

You think if they didn't have art they'd magically spend that hour reading?

I am a teacher. Yes, they would. The school is required to have a minimum amount of minutes for certain core subjects. They are able to go over but can not go under. I would schedule my day so that I would have two and a half hours of reading instead of one and a half and then drop them off for art class. They come back and show me that they glued magazines to a piece of paper for a hour. Insert eye roll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

You think if they didn't have art they'd magically spend that hour reading?

I am a teacher. Yes, they would. The school is required to have a minimum amount of minutes for certain core subjects. They are able to go over but can not go under. I would schedule my day so that I would have two and a half hours of reading instead of one and a half and then drop them off for art class. They come back and show me that they glued magazines to a piece of paper for a hour. Insert eye roll.

NP. It’s called a collage. But yes, surely they would benefit more from spending “a hour” more with you teaching them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't the classes you're kid earned As in pass/ fail?
Maybe you passed your rigid thinking into your kid and they just aren't very creative.

Those kinds of classes don't belong in a public education curriculum. I agree with the PP that they should be P/F.

Yes, arts and sports are distractions. Right now kids can barely read on grade level. They need to eliminate this stuff and get back to the basics.

Right, learning deficiencies are totally due to too much PE and art.

You do not understand (and I am different poster). I would be for an additional hour of reading in lieu of getting rid of art.

You think if they didn't have art they'd magically spend that hour reading?

I am a teacher. Yes, they would. The school is required to have a minimum amount of minutes for certain core subjects. They are able to go over but can not go under. I would schedule my day so that I would have two and a half hours of reading instead of one and a half and then drop them off for art class. They come back and show me that they glued magazines to a piece of paper for a hour. Insert eye roll.

Teachers always say they don’t have enough time to cover everything, but then as soon as testing’s over in the spring they just put movies on for the last 3 weeks of school.