These side-by-sides offer evidence about what we write in the book U.S. Crisis: Art, Education and Society
Art: John F. Kennedy wrote, "I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his/her vision wherever it takes him/her."
Artists bring something novel, new perspectives, deeper looks, an insight into human experience, reflections of what has occurred, what is occurring, what will occur. The point we make in the book is that society's artists work through their "spiritual genius," as Alfred Einstein called it, to provide opportunities for people to behold beauty or its opposite. All of the significant essentials are there in a piece of art; all else has been excised so that truth can be considered. There are things ethical and moral about creating and perceiving art that have societal implication.
What we have, however, is a general public that has not been taught enough about art. (By art, we mean all of the arts.) Although there may be broad and distant respect for the arts, the general U.S. public does not love art; it is not something people must have in their lives. Why? The general public is obsessed with non-art. People are barraged with pop culture that is produced to make money off of the public. This stuff is simple, appealing and purposefully crafted to attract the temporary attention of the buying public long enough for the public to purchase said items. As soon as this stuff has run its course, it is forgotten and it disappears off the shelves and airways. Often this junk is produced by novices that have the technical wherewithal to create a computerized song, for example, but who have no concept, not enough experience, no thoroughness of grounding in the core of what art is to create something that "nourishes the roots of our culture". The key words in Kennedy's quote above are "artist" and "art".
Education: "70% of 8th graders cannot read proficiently. 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year. 44% of school dropouts are jobless." – broadresidency.org
Those statistics are bad enough in and of themselves, but The Broad Residency goes on to compare what is happening in U.S. public schools with other countries. Compared to 30 industrialized countries, American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science. Our top math students rank 25th out of 30 countries when comparing our best kids to students elsewhere in the world. By the end of 8th grade, U.S. students are two years behind other countries.
If we are losing the race in those primary subjects, how might we compare internationally in other subjects, i.e., history, literature, art, music, theater.
Society: Frontpage news headlines selected from the March 29 Huffington Post Newsglide:
1) Who's getting Amy Winehouse's fortune?
2) The Most and Least Religious States in America?
3) Former Teacher Sentenced for Raping, Drugging Student
4) Watch: Army Ants in Creepy Suicide Ritual
5) 25 Most Ridiculous Mascot Moments in Baseball
6) Aerosmith to Release First Album in 8 years
7) Snooki Shows Off Engagement Ring
8) Funeral Home Employee Allegedly Fondled Dead Woman's Body
9) Spike Lee Apologizes For Retweeting Wrong Address for Zimmerman
10) More Details Revealed in Anti-Gay Group's Secret Plans
Ten, that's a good round number. And...headlines like these are not exclusive to Huffington. It is a given that these headlines were among others more serious, but why highlight these stories? What do these types of news selections say about how and why media markets itself to the society it serves? What do they reveal about society itself?
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