This document is a background paper for satellite town meeting on the "Goals 2000: Educate America Act." The paper discusses the importance of studying the arts for themselves, and as a means of helping students learn other subjects. It suggests that studying the arts prepares students for the workplace and helps to build the United…

Traces the origins and development of the National Standards for Arts Education. Discusses the long-term effects the national standards might have on preservice and inservice teacher education. Questions whether national standards might lead to a standardization in arts education that would hamper teacher and student creativity. (CFR)

Contends that, in an age of decreased educational funding, it is more likely that art teachers must work with administrators who have little or no art training. Asserts that art teachers must educate the administrators about the value of educational art programs. Provides suggested strategies to accomplish this goal. (CFR)

Comments on remarks by A. Graham Down, president of the Council for Basic Education, about integrating arts education into the curriculum. Concludes that, when the arts are channeled into the mainstream and made part and parcel of everything, arts education becomes dangerously confused. (CFR)

Asserts that this is a frenetic time for arts education. Discusses the formation and implementation of public policy regarding arts education. Concludes that the most responsible policies emerge when broad-based input from professionals and lay persons is solicited and acted upon. (CFR)

Asserts that it is important to avoid bandwagon superficialities related to the interdisciplinary approach to arts education in the K-12 curriculum. Concludes that the overarching issue related to the National Standards implementation is how to keep content and process in a productive relationship. (CFR)

Asserts that the new voluntary arts national standards present educators with a important opportunity to improve music and arts education in K-12 schools. Outlines the role of the national standards movement. Discusses the interrelationships among the standards and the undergraduate curriculum, teacher certification, and advanced placement. (CFR)

Discusses two related dilemmas: (1) the tension between the Western view of historical progress and the realities of modern society; and (2) the tension between old and new approaches to teaching and learning about the arts. Argues that the end result of implementing the Goals 2000 program might diminish the teaching of the arts as discrete…