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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Art, PE and Music elective classes should be pass/fail in high school. There is no reason to grade those classes. Students are required to take them as electives to graduate. Some kids are lucky because they have a natural talent or affinity for one or more of those areas, but for the rest of us, it really sucks to be graded. Better for kids to have exposure to these subjects than resent them because they get graded. However, AP Music Theory, AP Art History etc., are truly academic classes and of course should be graded. [/quote]

Baloney.  My kids are both extremely talented artists.  But they didn't just naturally become talented.  They worked incredibly hard and have put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, have taken classes, etc.  Art should absolutely be graded.  Kids who are good in math aren't just naturally good.  They work dang hard at it.  I'm not saying there isn't some natural gifting in any of these areas.  But it's what you do with it that matters.  PE, music, electives are all the same.  The kids who stand out, who really stand out and earn the A's, they earned those A's.  It's not like they were naturally bestowed with ability that came easy.  They worked hard.  In fact, my daughter has worked so hard in art, as well as many other classes, that she's been offered a spot in Yale's art program.  [/quote]

NP. Some kids are definitely naturally gifted at art, math, whatever. Kids shouldn’t be graded in art for just talent, they should be graded on metrics like applying the concepts they’ve learned, technique, following the assignment, etc.

When I hear arguments like OP’s, it reminds me of kids complaining about learning math. “When will I ever use this?” Art, music, math, history, language: all of it comes together to create a fully-formed, educated adult. It’s all important.[/quote]

I don't know. I hear what you're saying, but at the same time, we put *so* much pressure on high school kids already. They're stress out and they don't even get recess. Can't they just have a class that is fun? Do they need to perform all the time? Having to be on and doing and performing all the time doesn't make for a fully-formed adult either. It makes for a burned out adult.

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If your kid wants to take an art class for fun without worrying about their grade, find a class to enroll them in outside of school during evenings or weekends.[/quote]

Even better if your kid wants art, music or sports do it on your own time. School should be focused on basics like reading and math since too many already don't meet these basic expectations.[/quote]

So only rich kids get to do art, music and sports?  No, I can tell that you did not grow up in the U.S.  There is a reason that our country led the world in innovation, and it wasn't drill.[/quote]

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