During my education courses this semester there has been a running theme and general agreement on what teaching and education should be. The consensus is that education doesn't just mean reciting information at students for them to memorize. Education should be tailored to what the students will find important. Lessons should relate to the students' lives in some way, it should relate to the world around them, and it should relate to other subject areas outside of its own. Making art is wonderful, but if the student cannot see the importance then what was the point? As teachers we need to be able to explain why what we teach matters to the students' lives. It doesn't make much sense to make students recreate a cubist painting by Picasso when no one paints that way anymore. Creating a project about graphic design or abstract expressionism however, is something that artists still do today. How can you justify to students that creating cubist paintings is important if the culture they live is deems that it is not? Rather, the students should understand the importance of the movement in history, but in studio create something relevant to current art. It's this connection to their lives and culture of today that will keep their interest and ultimately deepen their understanding of the lessons.
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