Arts vs. sciences
Schools' increased emphasis on 'core' subjects worries music and theater advocates

Sunday, April 8, 2007
By Simone Sebastian and Charlie Boss
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Six years ago, the Bexley school district launched an ambitious plan to upgrade its arts program.

The high-school theater received a $3 million face-lift. Advanced art courses were added. School bands and orchestras received new practice spaces.

Today, the district's arts program is stellar.

Its popularity isn't.

The number of Bexley High School students taking art, music or drama has dropped 13 percent since the multimillion-dollar project started.

"We upped our math and science requirements," said Bexley orchestra teacher Sandra Crandall. "When it comes to scheduling, sometimes the arts are the losers."

Across the country, advocates are worried about the future of the arts as state tests and federal mandates force schools to increase their focus on math, science and English.

Many central Ohio districts say they don't know whether those fears have materialized. Others have experienced a change in the number of students taking art, music and drama, though not always in the direction expected.

As in Bexley, Upper Arlington high-school arts classes have attracted fewer students since the 2000-2001 school year. Enrollment has dropped nearly 6 percent, though the student population has grown by 11 percent, according to data provided by the district.

In Dublin, another growing district, enrollment in high-school arts classes is slightly lower than it was five years ago.

But other high-school arts programs, including those in Worthington and Grandview Heights, are blossoming despite shrinking student populations. Educators credit hiring better teachers, offering more classes and requiring basic art and music instruction for middle-school students.

Arts-enrollment data was not available for several districts, including Columbus. Some said they do not keep historic enrollment data. Others said they could not immediately find the data on their antiquated systems.

While there have been reports statewide that schools are swapping art and music classes for math and reading, there aren't numbers to back them up, said Joan Platz, a researcher at the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education.

Nationally, the story is much the same.

At Reynoldsburg Junior High School, students who are struggling academically can replace art, music or wellness classes with extra instruction in math and reading.

"It's unfortunate it has to be a trade-off," said assistant principal Paula Brown. "But in a school day, there are not enough minutes to work with kids, and that's when we have a captive audience."

Students in Franklin County high schools say competition to get into college leaves no time for paintbrushes or voice lessons.

Bexley senior Kristen Stevens dreams of becoming a photographer for National Geographic. But she's not taking art this year because her schedule is packed with pre-calculus and Advanced Placement biology and literature courses.

"I love art, but at school it's always hard to fit art into my schedule," Stevens said.

Instead, she pays for Saturday morning classes at the Columbus College of Art & Design.

Groveport Madison High School junior Quinton Jones has a nine-hour school day to satisfy his musical interests.

He juggles three choir classes and three periods of band along with English, Chinese, chemistry and gym.

Jones says he's luckier than some peers who skip concert band or jazz ensemble to take math or science classes they need to graduate.

"We've lost at least 20 to 30 kids since my freshman year," he said. "That's only out of 190 or so students, but it's a big difference. My worry is that (the music programs) will keep declining at a rate where the programs will be nonexistent."

Ohio's academic requirements for graduation are about to become stiffer. The new Ohio Core curriculum will require students who begin high school in 2010 or later to take an extra year of math, for a total of four years.

Currently, fine-arts classes can be used to satisfy some graduation requirements, but they are not required. Under the Ohio Core, students can earn their fine-arts graduation requirements -- two semesters of art -- during middle school.

Despite the added focus on other subjects, some arts programs are thriving.

Five years ago, Westerville opened an elementary magnet school that teaches academic classes through music, art and drama.

Students study planets by creating papier-mache models of the solar system. They learn the history of the Underground Railroad by writing and performing a play.

"Arts have the ability to bring real life to textbook knowledge," said Jan Fedorenko, principal of Hanby Elementary. "Just the fact that it brings kids to school who can't wait to go to art class, it certainly does make a difference."

 

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