survival/revival: that's the question

National Art Education Association

Survival/Revival: That's the QuestionAuthor(s): Margaret DiBlasioSource: Art Education, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Mar., 1981), pp. 12-15Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192530 .

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Survival/Revival: That's the Question

"The Value of the Arts To Contemporary Society Is Too Significant For Art Educators To Squander

Their Time in Mere Resuscitation Efforts."

Margaret DiBlasio

The opening years of the eighties may be remembered as an

especially perilous time in public education for the arts and the humanities, already being squeezed in the general belt-tightening, and more recently vic- timized by the reactionary excesses of some interpretations of the "back to the basics" movement. As be- leaguered art educators steel themselves to confront the uncertainties of a new decade, the one issue which regularly seizes their attention is: "How can we insure the survival of our art program in the eighties?" Wherever art educators come to- gether, this question is sure to be posed, and a variety of answers to be ventured.

This article presents no answer to the question. While acknowledging the sincerity and depth of concern which prompt such a question to be raised, the writer finds it more useful to question the question itself. This rather contemporary reaction to en- trenched issues may have had its be- ginnings in the final words of that free spirit and woman of letters, Gertrude Stein. On her deathbed, attended as always by Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude had been muttering again and again, "What's the answer? What's the answer?" If Alice B. Toklas had learned anything at all from her years of help- ing Gertrude entertain the great names of art and literature in their Paris sa- lon, it was that she knew a rhetorical question when she heard one. Alice therefore had the wisdom to keep si- lent. At length in a final burst of fer- vor, Gertrude called out, "Well then, what's the question?"-and with that the great lady expired.

To call the issue of the survival of art programs into doubt is to ask,

"What's wrong with the question? What problems does the repeated pos- ing of the question generate? How does relentless concern with the question of survival affect our consciousness and our performance?" There is a real possibility that we art educators will do more harm to ourselves by adopting a survival mentality than any outside force, any unsympathetic administrators or tax-weary public can do to undermine our programs. We have all felt the tug to depict ourselves as struggling, enlightened martyrs, nobly striving to hold our own against the tide of technology, indifference, or what-have-you. There are distinct disadvantages, however, to operating in a state of siege indefinitely. Being the little Dutch boy-or girl-with your finger in the dike does tend to cramp your style. The survival mentality represents an escalating state of obsession, accompanied by narrowed perceptions, restricted flexibility, and drastically reordered priorities. The self-convicted survivor soon begins to act as if he or she is trapped within an unimaginably bad soap opera: "Will Jennifer soften the hearts of the school board in time to prevent her kiln from being repossessed and her class size doubled? Tune in next week, and you will find that Jennifer's really big problems are just around the corner."

The survivor mentality disposes us to make easy, quick distinction be- tween necessities and luxuries, be- tween what we think we need just to stay around a while longer and all those things that we never had, but thought were worth striving for. Polit- ical expediency starts taking prece-

Gregory Germer, 17, Niskayuna High School, Schenectady, New York. "Manhattan Masts." Honor Award, Black-and-White.

Art Education March 1981 12



711



dence over professional standards and personal idealism. After all, the argu- ment goes, you can't do any of these noble things if you aren't around to do them. The catch is that the secure to- morrow never comes, only a succes- sion of new worries, new threats, new capitulations. The survivor acts as if every school year were the last, often settling for the inferior. Besides, energies need to be saved for fighting the system. The survivor has little pa- tience with any program that needs to

be developed carefully over a long period of time. Survivors need relief from the tensions of fighting the good fight; hence they are drawn to instant gratification activities and prepack- aged, predigested gimmicks. Sur- vivors grasp at straws and provide a market for the proliferation of fads.

What this all means is that survivorship may function as a self-fulfilling prophecy: the fear of not surviving can act as a creeping paralysis, nar- rowing our vision, inhibiting our in-

Susan King, 17, Reseda High School, Reseda, California. $1,000 Kodak Scholarship Grant.

ventiveness, censoring our expres- siveness, evaporating our en- thusiasms, and blunting our ideas. Like Pogo Possum, we have met the enemy, and it is us. Even those survivors who react in anger and mili- tancy suffer the same loss of vision and effectiveness when their energies


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are channeled into "guerilla warfare." Wherever the debilitating fear or blind rage of survivorship is allowed to con- tinue long enough, art programs will roll steadily downward to mediocrity and dullness. But these observations should not be interpreted as a dispar- agement of arts advocacy, whose basic legitimacy and importance are not here challenged. There are in- stances of indiscriminate arts advocacy, however, whose value must be questioned. There are times when survivors with their backs against the wall expend their energies to defend and promote programs that are weak, programs that simply do not deserve to survive, because they feel that they must hold the line somewhere or risk the loss of the whole ball game.

Perhaps the time has come for art educators to admit among themselves that hundreds of art programs throughout the country would come closest to dignity if they were allowed the privilege of a happy death. The value of the arts to contemporary society is too significant for art educators to squander their time in mere resuscitation efforts. It would be hear- tening to see more of us taking the time to reflect carefully on the strengths of our profession. It would be a real sign of hope and renewal to find more art educators rediscovering the advances in scholarship and cur- ricular development that have been proceeding steadily while all the de- fensive battles were being waged. It would be so encouraging to partici- pate in a little professional consciousness-raising of our own, as we recommitted ourselves to the ideals which stirred our predecessors and kept them aware of the contribu- tion which we are uniquely disposed to make to society. Thus the objective of this writing is to make a case for revival, rather than survival. There is a strongly held belief which animates these remarks: that if art educators return to the ideals which have animated our professional traditions, if we renew our dedication to furthering the development of these ideals in forms appropriate to contemporary needs, then much less attention will need to be given to surviving or worrying about survival.

It can be said that revival is survival, that it accomplishes survival without preoccupying us with the self-defeating mechanisms of survival.

Do a good job of revival, and survival will take care of itself. The educational market is still discriminating enough to snap up a well-done piece of work whenever it comes along. If we develop programs which demonstrate that we know what we are do- ing, that we understand child development in the arts, and that we pro- ceed from a defensible aesthetic and pedagogic base, then even the most jaded administrator must show inter- est. Even if some administrators dis- play little sensitivity because they operate in the crossfire of public expec- tations, they are interested in programs that work. If those programs happen also to be philosophically well grounded and socially sensitive, if the case for their accountability is im- mediately evident, so much the better. As we return to a new appreciation of our roots, our strengths, our ideals as art educators, we will collectively as- semble a new list of priorities, an agenda for the present decade. Al- though no one individual will supply the definitive list, there are a few items which might profitably be tos- sed into the "in" basket at this time. As this writer makes up her shopping list of priorities, several needs have emerged as especially worthy of attention:

1) As individuals we need to strengthen and clarify the aesthetic base from which we make quality judgments. We need to exemplify the critical skills enlightening artistic judgments as well as to communicate the mystique and life style of the arts. We need to bring the principles under which we operate into the focus of our introspection so that these principles can be clarified and refined. Contrary to myth, there is no danger that any of the "magic" will be lost by sharpen- ing our philosophical base of opera- tion.

2) Our programs need to incorporate a definite structure of inquiry. The student needs the respectability of knowing that performance in the arts requires the mastery of a systematic process of inquiry. The student needs to be assured that the process of inquiry in the arts is parallel to- and no less respectable than-the pursuit of the scientific method.

3) As educators we need to resist the

urge to confuse process and content. In the unrelenting drive to conceive fresh activities, it is easy to imagine that the production of innovative strategies is itself the proof of educational effectiveness. Bountiful clever- ness is entertaining but useless if it does not bring about aesthetic experi- ence and learning. As relentless doers by virtue of our profession, we need constantly to ask ourselves just what it is we want to happen in our students. What is taking place in the student's perceptual set and value structure beyond the acquisition of skills? What larger concepts are being developed? What areas of awareness, concern, and personal endeavor are being stimulated and nurtured?

4) However much art educators are convinced of the uniqueness of their discipline and of the educational strategies which are appropriate to its pursuit, they need to acknowledge anew that no one who engages in public education can justify ignoring the mandate of the public. It seems that many parents have been telling us for quite some time-although they often lack the artistic vocabulary to be ar- ticulate in their desires-that they want to see some results in their children beyond the carrying home of ar- tifacts and the polishing of dexterity. They want their children to have the deepened sense of humanity, the so- cial enlightenment which they have always been told is the heritage of the arts. If some of the public have reacted to the "back to basics" movement by regarding art as a frill, then we need to ask ourselves if we have programmed them into that per- ception by settling for superficial activities.

The contemporary world is hurting for balance, for renewed human sensitivity, for enlightened appreciation of our surroundings and a resolve to preserve the beauty that surrounds us. Art educators have something to offer this troubled world. We have kept it locked up in the heritage of our profession. Let us get on with the busi- ness of revival. Let us demonstrate quality. Let us survive with style.

Margaret DiBlasio is assistant profes- sor of art education at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.




survival/revival: that's the question

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