Although music education's quality is outstanding, it faces serious problems that teachers and administrators should work to rectify by clearly stating goals and claims, adopting student achievement standards, and avoiding emphasizing music as entertainment--if something essential to civilization is to survive. (KS)

Describes the Art in Arizona Towns Project, through which rural community colleges sponsor three- to six-day visits/residencies by performing artists who perform, lecture, and conduct classes and workshops for schools and community groups. Discusses the project's benefits for the rural communities and the artists, and logistical and financial…

Discusses the differential components of cultural literacy and notes the complexity of developing a curriculum encompassing cultural literacy. Evaluates the objectives and effects of formal instruction in the quest for cultural literacy. Maintains that an integrated curriculum is necessary for cultural literacy. (KM)

Examines the origin and nature of kitsch and its prominence in contemporary U.S. culture. Discusses how kitsch can be used in the arts curriculum to teach cultural and aesthetic lessons. (KM)

Provides commentary upon three texts used at a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar in 1987. Includes a Turner essay, an essay by Wallace Stegner on use of narratives, and a novel by J. M. Coetzee questioning the nature of civilization. Illustrates methods for using literature in the teaching of U.S. history. (KO)

"Where Art Meets Ed" is an annual four-day conference in Hazel Green, Kentucky, which is based on the belief that art is a crucial educational tool that provides an experiential dimension to learning. Describes workshops on Appalachian literature and African dance that demonstrate the links between culture, experience, and learning. (TD)

Describes the Eakin School Project, developed in collaboration with the Nashville (Tennessee) Institute for the Arts (NIA), a five-year project begun in 1991 to make the arts and aesthetic education central to the kindergarten through grade six curriculum at the Eakin School. Students view performances in and around Nashville and are taught by…

Using "Gone with the Wind" in its German language version provides language reinforcement as well as a means of augmenting the study of literature and cinematic adaptation and cultural contexts. Both novel and film serve as good sources for verbal and written exercises. (LET)

Describes the American public's growing interest in art after World War II. Discusses the problematic history of arts in the public school curricula, in which arts programs are seen as a last priority in school reform and are the first to be eliminated in school districts facing financial retrenchment. (SR)

Profiles Alfred A. Knopf, his wife Blanche, and the publishing empire they created. Beginning in 1915, Knopf Inc. established a reputation for intellectual integrity, eventually including the works of 35 Pulitzer Prize winners and 18 Nobel laureates. Knopf often led the publishing industry in book design and literary tastes. (MJP)

Discusses two principles of the experiential learning approach as it pertains to English-as-a-second-language instruction in Canada: (1) learning is an emotional experience that entails personal investment; and (2) to learn is to change. (Author/CB)

Suggests an alternative approach for a popular culture course--an exploration of the culture of the students' parents, or "unpopular" culture. Possible activities for a unit include: interviews (on entertainment preferences, for example), observations (dress codes for social gatherings, parental food and drink habits, etc.), or an attic…

Asserts that holidays offer excellent opportunities to teach about cultural diversity and enrich the social studies curriculum. Provides five activities for teaching about holidays in elementary schools. Includes three charts keyed to the activities. (CFR)

Argues that a gap exists in university-level foreign-language curriculum that requires a "bridge," that is, a course designed to take students from where they are to where they should be to study for a foreign-language major and describes the bridge course in Hispanic culture at the University of New Mexico. (four references) (CK)

Examines the content and instructional approach typically used in the American studies component of the British primary school curriculum. Concludes that this rapidly expanding element of British social studies programs provides a useful first step in helping British children develop a more global perspective. (RKM)