The Next Art-Free Zone: Kindergarten

It used to be that when art programs were slashed in the elementary schools, at least kindergarten was the last bastion of painting, drawing, and weekly, if not daily, art projects. Who couldn't imagine that five-year-olds would at least be the lucky ones still getting to enjoy their right-brain creativity exercises. One expects to find creativity still lurking around the corners of the kinder classroom.

But alas, anything that resembles art has been banished in some kindergarten classrooms.  I'll never forget the day a kindergarten teacher ran into the art room on Valentine's Day, stunned that the principal had just made an upsetting proclamation. The little kids were coloring pictures related to the holiday. When the principal had come into the room, she acted as if the teacher was doing something wrong with her class.  The principal announced that there would be no more coloring in kindergarten! They had to spend all the time getting in their academics.

Unfortunately, this true story illustrates the preposterous stress schools face. Second, we've lost all perspective about kindergarten age children. Third, art is "academic," regardless of the wild misinformation out there. 

Where to begin sorting this out?  

Since education was commandereed by the accountability movement (not necessarily an all bad thing), schools are ranked on test scores. We all know this. Meeting this expensive demand means less money has been available for what used to be considered normal components of education and the school day. Just to arm students with never-ending practice worksheets preparing for the tests has gobbled up school budgets nationwide (and mowed down our forests). 

School administrators are in a bind: they have to carefully mind their budgets, even while their staffs copy increasing blizzards of worksheets. Copy paper is their most expensive item, often breaking the bank. Having taught in three states, I can attest to this universal response to test-prep. Art supplies can seem expensive. If a principal doesn't grasp the importance that art brings to the school experience,  not only does the expense look frivilous, but the time spent engaged in a right-brain, authentic, hands-on activity once a week does, too. Employing an art specialist? A school could get two aides instead to tutor low-performing kids in reading or math. It's a trade off. It's not balanced, but the bottom line is panic over test scores. Period.

One of the consequences of the accountability push is that kindergarten has become the most pressured grade of all, in my opinion! In Texas, and I'm sure in other states as well, some of what had been the second grade curriculum has been shoved clear down into kindergarten. Five-year-olds are expected now to write sentences before they can even hold a pencil. Their day too is filled with worksheets. Some kids with a lot of experience under their belt can do this if their parents or progressive preschool provided it. But this push comes at the time when more and more kids are not getting the normal early childhood preparation that might enable them to do this. It's especially true in many low income homes. 

A rather narrow, anemic view of "academic" has developed. Teachers are expected to cover a big amount of material. It ends up looking like worksheets and textbooks. It feels entirely left-brain. It's analytical, not creative. There is no time in the school day for teaching innovative thinking.  But somehow, the adults making these curriculum decisions believe children will be able to do this without instruction or time spent cultivating it. They'd never do that with spelling or math. Let's face it, we have gotten stupid with all this testing. We've lost sight of the children and how they develop.