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I strongly feel that art and music classes add so much to children's education. The actual model of US grammar schools at the turn of the 20th century(just when education became mass/compulsory), had as its' model the German "Gymnasium". Children were taught Montessori-like, well-rounded, to make the complete person. It was meant to enhance what was considered the human spirit in a child.
Now, with the gutting of music/arts(even PE in many cases), we seem to have lost that sense of helping to form and bring out a whole human spirit, well-rounded and deep. So much is lost.
I am thankful I was one of the last generations to go to grammar school when they still had art and music teachers full-time as a matter of course, with plenty of materials for them to work with. That was a precious part of our week. So many wonderful projects(of course with Elmers Glue and construction paper, essentially duct tape for kids!). Our music teachers would have the entire class sing a round style version, with different kids coming in at diff times. Was wonderful.
Do they even have show and tell anymore?......what have we lost with all the budget slashing, even of PE in many cases? Gym, Music, and Art were absolutely awesome parts of our week. Letting the young soul soar with wings.
Are there any music/art teachers left anywhere anymore?
Pic below "creative commons" re Wikipedia, vetted by the same....
My grand children's elementary school has music, art and PE. They rotate for these specials, so they don't have music and art every day. Not sure about PE. They also have a library rotation.
Looking at the district itself, it would seem that all the elementary schools have these (they are k-4 schools).
I haven't experienced their loss. We have art, music, strings, band, p.e., foreign language immersion, Foreign Language Through Content, and library (with lessons, not just browsing).
Perhaps you live in a depressed area? Where I live, I haven't seen any kind of significant cuts to the art, music, or PE programs over the past 25 years. They are all mandatory as per the state curriculum. Every elementary school has general music one or two times a week, plus chorus, plus band, plus orchestra.
The New York City Public Schools, with over 1,000,000 students, the largest district in the US just hired hundreds of new music teachers and several hundred drama teachers K-12. Granted, their music programs are subpar in comparison to the neighboring suburban schools, with the exception of the specialized high schools like LaGuardia. There are plans for additional expansion. There are also several charter schools with a music theme.
I do notice that with the increase on academics in the lower grades that show and tell has been severaly cut back. It's still a big part of nursery school, prekindergarten, and in some kindergartens.
My kids' public elementary school has daily "specials". They have one per day: art, music, PE, technology, library, and then beginning in the 3rd grade, project based learning.
They've never had Show & Tell, though.
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