Reply to Why aren’t art classes pass/fail?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I get the feeling that those who say "art doesn't belong in a public school education" actually mean "only 'academic' subjects should be graded, because I'm hyperfocused on my kid getting the 'best' grades to get into the 'best' schools so they get the 'best' jobs and have money and status, and because of that, I've only ever pushed my kid in reading and math and a smattering of history and science, so they might not do as well in art and that's not faaaaaiiiir."[/quote]

Maybe.

But I’m the op, and that’s definitely not me.

I’m a hands off parent. Truly. My kids are responsible for their grades, their choices, etc. My kid told us their grades and commented that it was frustrating to get a B in ceramics since they “suck” at it despite trying. That prompted a discussion on why they don’t simply make certain classes pass/fail. Or, why certain teachers don’t realize the pecking order and lack of importance of their class.

[/quote]

I used to teach art, and taught a high school ceramics class. The grade is not for the look of the output, but the learning of the process. My class was treated as an easy A, when in reality if you took shortcuts, didn’t follow the steps outlined, etc. you would not do well. But it was an easy A for a student who was willing to try and fail and try again, who would follow the instructions, and who was willing to put in the effort to learn about ceramics. Often the creators of the most beautiful pieces did not get As, because they didn’t bother with doing it the way we were learning and students whose  piece was not the most polished would get the A because of the effort made. [/quote]

NP. I think this sounds totally fair, as long as the expectations are made crystal clear from the beginning. The fact is that art is an easy A for a lot of teachers and it’s not wild that students would sign up for it expecting it to be a GPA booster with little effort.

But I think your approach is great. We have this idea that art is a gift that can’t be leaned and im sure a lot of your students learned that they could create things they previously never dreamed of. [/quote]

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