Questions regarding the proper role of the arts in education have occupied many thinkers throughout the ages, no less than the likes of Plato and Rousseau. Like them, several have argued that paintings, for example, are mere re-presentations of and certainly not, to borrow a term from Kant, the "thing-in-itself." From a Platonic and Rousseauian…

This article presents an excerpt from a speech delivered by Dana Gioia, poet, critic, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at the Stanford University commencement on June 17, 2007. In this speech, Gioia communicates his concerns about the diminished role of the arts in contemporary North American culture and the failure of school…

Professors from American University and artists and educators from Imagination Stage, a children's theater and arts-education organization in nearby Bethesda, Maryland, have combined their intellectual and artistic strengths over the past 12 years to create an arts-integrated educational program for elementary and secondary schools throughout the…

The author makes the case that the role of the intellectual is to effect change, to challenge vested interests that would limit dialogue on matters of grave importance and to function as a public witness-bearer to personal and public forms of truth. He goes on to state, however, that this role cannot be properly fulfilled unless narrow, purely…

Equality rests in the human traits of emotion and imagination which provide insight into the feelings of others. The arts educate the imagination, providing an increased awareness of the nature of human equality and empathy for one's fellows. (Author/AYC)

Horse drawings by female children are analyzed. The construction of meaning in children's drawing frequently remains as much in the child's mind as it is graphically expressed. Educators must develop an appreciation for children's fantasy worlds and the ways these worlds both mirror and transform their lives. (RM)

Discusses the role and importance of the arts for education and society, arguing that the arts are not fluff to be eliminated from resource-limited curriculums, but are an important aspect of stimulating human imagination, thinking processes and the ability to feel. (WAS)

Describes a way of teaching art which emphasizes the heart and the senses. (SJL)

Artistic activities are frequently called imaginative or valuable in developing students' imagination. However, it is not always clear what imagination means. This paper examines questions related to what imagination is, describes the importance of imaginative thinking, and presents educational implications. The paper concludes that imaginative…

This paper deals with the main theses of Gombrich's theory of pictorial representation as they pertain to the understanding of representational artworks and children's drawing. It is argued that the current linguistic-cognitive model of representation adopted from Goodman's theory provides an understanding of images and children's drawing in art…

The decline in public support for the arts is evident in diminished audience approbation as much as in support by public and, increasingly, private sources. This article postulates that the same phenomenon is taking place with the decrease of arts education in our schools. The author argues that our schools are taking on an increasingly…

Recognizing the public benefits of higher education and the arts, the American Assembly of Columbia University convened a 2004 conference called "The Creative Campus," from which emerged recommendations about better integrating arts offerings on campus into the curriculum, serving the surrounding community and preparing students for the demands of…

-This paper was presented to the VII Commonwealth and International Conference on Sport, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Brisbane in 1982 (1200 delegates) and was subsequently published in Volume 1 (Dance) of the Conference Proceedings by the Department of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland Australia. The Conference…

Standards in art education contradict the nature of art: the unexpected, the imagined, the explorations and creative discoveries. What must be communicated is the importance of the arts and aesthetic education, the nurture of informed understanding of art, and meaningful standards that emerge intrinsically and are not imposed extrinsically (SK)

In an effort to ensure that the arts receive equity with other areas of study, this paper presents an argument for the value of arts education in children's development. The argument is based on the work of four experts: (1) Nelson Goodman, who held that symbols are indispensable to communication, and that children's capacity for acquiring…