Students in the Minneapolis Public Schools are Deprived of the Cultural Enrichment that Comes from Broad and Deep Experiences in the Arts

In my advocacy for a broad, deep, knowledge-intensive K-12 curriculum, I highlight especially mathematics, natural science (biology, chemistry, and physics), history, government, economics, psychology, literature, English usage, and the fine (visual and musical) arts.



Excellent education I define as a matter of excellent teachers imparting a knowledge-intensive, skill-replete curriculum sequenced logically grade by grade, to students of all demographic descriptors.

Excellent teachers I define as professionals of deep and broad knowledge with the pedagogical ability to impart that knowledge to students of all demographic descriptors.



The three great purposes of K-12 education are cultural enrichment, civic preparation, and professional satisfaction.



Students of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), even the sixty-three percent (63%) who manage to graduate in four years do so culturally unenriched, civically unprepared, and with little prospects for lives of professional satisfaction.



The arts are central to cultural enrichment, but MPS students are devoid of broad and deep experiences with the visual and musical arts.  Students have little sense of the broad trends in Asian, African, European, and American painting, sculpture, architecture, and music;  particularly lamentable, students have little appreciation as to how African American contributions have defined the contemporary musical forms that abide in the United States and throughout the world.



Decision-makers and teachers at the Minneapolis Public Schools are deeply culpable for the depravity of education provided to students who matriculate in this school district.  They do not take the Minnesota State Arts Standards seriously;  the arts get short shrift in the curriculum and by teachers who enter the classroom, as for other realms of knowledge and skill, seriously undertrained and ill-prepared to provide anything remotely resembling an excellent education.



The description of the development of Minnesota State Arts Standards is brief as presented on the website of the Minnesota Department of Education.



Consider:      

The interrelationship of artistic knowledge and processes defines artistic literacy. Engaging Students in the Arts can help educators bring arts into the classroom, allowing students to integrate arts with other subject areas.

Arts Education Standards Review Process

The third draft of the new arts education standards is now available!
You can view the draft standards below. The date by which all schools must implement the new standards will be determined during the rulemaking process. Relevant rulemaking documents will be posted on the MDE Arts Rulemaking webpage. For more information about the arts standards review process, contact arts specialist Alina Campana at 763-279-4183.