We hope that U.S. Crisis: Art, Education and Society will encourage others to join us in a righteous cause.
We make the strong case that the university operated as a business causes major problems in our educational system. It is the incompatibility between the two that causes the art of education to succumb to the business of education. It is not so much the Establishment that we attack or big business, nor to we assault liberals or conservatives who seem bent on attacking reason. It is not the puppet politicians who, in order to be reelected, jump to the strings of professional lobbyist-puppeteers that we assail. Neither is our national crisis the fault of the public media that parades big banners announcing the latest shocking headlines such as U.S. Ranks 25th in the World in Educational Quality. The media struts this stuff in front of onlookers as long as the headlines command an audience.
What is at the root of the problems and with those entities listed above? Ideas! And it is our school system, from preschool through the doctoral level, that teaches ideas to our country. Perhaps more than parents, churches and peers, it is through our schools that values and standards of living are inculcated. We have an dizzying, fast-spinning merry-go-round that must be slowed to a halt and, then, its direction changed. We have to 'undizzy' our country.
It is the public acceptance of 'mediocrity is good enough' that has been taught by our schools to our citizenry. This is done rather than insisting on seeking and providing the best education possible for our nation. Since there has been little, if any, substantive opposition to this deterioration other than reports from a few Commissions on U.S. Education, we have a national ethical crisis that has permitted the cultivation of greed as the main engine of the nation's economy, accepted lowered academic standards that assure the graduation of too many students from high school and college with a diploma in hand but without having received a 'real' education, allowed a government to become an increasingly powerful group of lobbyists and politicians that have become entangled into one messy pocket handkerchief that makes decisions for the people, and supported public media that boasts that it is 'keeping them honest' and that its news is 'fair and balanced' while it is obvious that its stories are politically tainted – the news slanted to the 'right' or to the 'left' to sustain television ratings.
The country is at odds with itself, feeling helpless about being able to do something about the U.S. Crisis. U.S. Crisis: Art, Education and Society is a rebellion. It points out some of the actual reasons behind the destruction of the public intellect and the deterioration of our national self-esteem by criticizing our education system from our 'inside the academy' perspectives. We expose the implications of the 'vulture' capitalist's wish to feed off of the public's insatiable appetite for pop culture.
We encourage a dialogue among readers of our book and blog to begin to forge a path to a new way for education and for a return to valuing art and art education as something critical to sensitive and sensible living. We have nothing to lose in such a venture but by participating in reformation, in the best sense of the term, U.S. Society will have a chance to become the best it can possibly be.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Here is what we worry about!
Here is what we worry about. Our national crisis is so deep and endemic that we may not be able to pull ourselves out of it. Its evolution was so slow that it was like a person aging over a lifetime. We were young, and one day, we look into the mirror and don't recognize ourselves. We didn't notice that we were changing during those years but we did. That is obvious in the mirror's reflection.
The U.S. crisis creeped slowly into our society like aging repaints and resculpts our faces and bodies. The crisis slipped so insidiously under the doors of our schools, into the classrooms and into the minds of students and permeated what they thought, held important, and true. After many years of this, the United States looks into the mirror and doesn't recognize itself. It didn't notice it was changing, but it did. That is obvious in the nation's reflection.
This epidemic thinned out our national character and seeped into our citizenry over decades. Teachers, parents, business people, political leaders, even the religious–practically everyone–were stained and tainted by a system that gradually–so gradually–morphed our nation. This transformation is not the responsibility of any political party; it can't be blamed on any particular set of individuals; religions can't be blamed; it was an inevitable evolution - a shift from valuing to possessing. There may be nothing we can do about it. That's what we worry about.
During this period, an adult population of parents, not taught properly by their parents and teachers, raised children that attended school. These kids were taught by teachers that grew up in a laissez faire culture. Youngsters who see themselves as entitled to diplomas without earning them are supported in their expectations by their parents who may also have earned diplomas in a system that didn't demand academic excellence. The teachers and school administrators in the system did not demand excellence because very few remembered what excellence means. When that occurs, achieving mediocrity is awarded with a medal, and the liberty bell tolls mournfully.
The most sad characteristic of the U.S. crisis is that we have a populace that doesn't generally know what has been lost in the process. It can't remember what it never knew. It is impossible to explain this loss to anyone. It is like trying to explain the grief of losing a child to cancer, for example, to a person who has never had children.
Today's requiem mass is conducted by a diminishing population of knowers. Grief spills out in tears over the loss of good ideas, values, beautiful thoughts that may not hold any sway today because they weren't regarded with enough respect over the years to demand that they be remembered and held up like torches that light our way.
The U.S. crisis creeped slowly into our society like aging repaints and resculpts our faces and bodies. The crisis slipped so insidiously under the doors of our schools, into the classrooms and into the minds of students and permeated what they thought, held important, and true. After many years of this, the United States looks into the mirror and doesn't recognize itself. It didn't notice it was changing, but it did. That is obvious in the nation's reflection.
This epidemic thinned out our national character and seeped into our citizenry over decades. Teachers, parents, business people, political leaders, even the religious–practically everyone–were stained and tainted by a system that gradually–so gradually–morphed our nation. This transformation is not the responsibility of any political party; it can't be blamed on any particular set of individuals; religions can't be blamed; it was an inevitable evolution - a shift from valuing to possessing. There may be nothing we can do about it. That's what we worry about.
During this period, an adult population of parents, not taught properly by their parents and teachers, raised children that attended school. These kids were taught by teachers that grew up in a laissez faire culture. Youngsters who see themselves as entitled to diplomas without earning them are supported in their expectations by their parents who may also have earned diplomas in a system that didn't demand academic excellence. The teachers and school administrators in the system did not demand excellence because very few remembered what excellence means. When that occurs, achieving mediocrity is awarded with a medal, and the liberty bell tolls mournfully.
The most sad characteristic of the U.S. crisis is that we have a populace that doesn't generally know what has been lost in the process. It can't remember what it never knew. It is impossible to explain this loss to anyone. It is like trying to explain the grief of losing a child to cancer, for example, to a person who has never had children.
Today's requiem mass is conducted by a diminishing population of knowers. Grief spills out in tears over the loss of good ideas, values, beautiful thoughts that may not hold any sway today because they weren't regarded with enough respect over the years to demand that they be remembered and held up like torches that light our way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)