American education has pursued a policy of overstatement of its role and substance. Current discussions of art education follow this trend of intellectual inflation, expounding pretentious aims and catchwords. Educators must stop getting drunk on hope and verbiage and remember that teaching is the art of the possible. (Author/SJL)

Presented is an overview of two types of inquiry which may be used in literature study: inquiry concerning the formal, rhetorical, and semantic features of the text and inquiry generated by the individual's response to the work. The effects of these strategies on students' higher-order cognition are considered. (Author/SJL)

Considers how literary critic, George Steiner, explores the failure of Western Civilization to humanize humanity. Analyzes Steiner's ultimately elitist model of culture to shed light on implications of his brutal paradox in which Nazism's death camps are juxtaposed to high culture. Theorizes about the possibilities of a culture inclusive of all…

Discusses teaching English literature in relation to E. D. Hirsch's book, "Cultural Literacy". Isolates Hirsch's literary references and discusses how they can be used to teach undergraduates. Maintains that schools of education and English departments can contribute to cultural literacy because they educate prospective teachers. (KM)

While advocating one theory, based on developing critical abilities, which he feels best rationalizes the total literary experience, the author argues that almost any rationale would be preferable to the current absence of a rationale for college literature curriculum--better both for the students and for the discipline. (Author/SJL)

A common misconception about the nature of art and of aesthetic appreciation is that these activities are essentially a question of "feeling," as if tuning in to the right feeling will automatically lead to a full understanding of the work of art. Another widespread misunderstanding essentially reduces art viewing to a simple question of…

Most people know George Bernard Shaw as a dramatist and social reformer, but they are often surprised to discover that he was also the most brilliant British music critic to emerge in the late-nineteenth century. His vision of the ideal critic was not a passive reporter of musical events, but rather a vital and initiating force within the music…

A critique of the Arts, Americans, and Education Panel report, "Coming to Our Senses," for its study methods, its national policy recommendations, and its rhetorical styling. (SJL)

Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought embraces two complementary projects: what he called his therapeutic work which was aimed at treating philosophical questions as though they were an illness, and his reconstructive work which emerges from this therapeutic endeavor. Wittgenstein describes his therapeutic work as an exercise that involves destroying…

Discusses theater education in the areas of curriculum, production, and criticism, as proposals in E. D. Hirsch's, "Cultural Literacy" might affect it. Explains context, cultural literacy, and contextual criticism in theater education. Traces interwoven history of education and theater. Explores how embracing Hirsch's proposal would…

Explores critical activities in the visual arts and how they can enhance art appreciation. Outlines sources of criticism, different types of criticism, the varied backgrounds of art critics, and the artist-critic relationship. Maintains that, by emphasizing interpretive aspects, school art criticism can come closer to professional art criticism.…

Describes Jan Gossaert's painting of "St. Luke Painting the Virgin" and shows how it encompasses the intellectual pattern of early sixteenth-century thought. Discusses the arguments for and against the making of religious images and how artists overcame the potential threat to their livelihood from church authorities. Analyzes Gossaert's…

Describes aesthetic views and shows how historical context and criticism are crucial for an understanding of aesthetic objects and experiences. Views education and art as providing a meaning for life. Suggests ways in which the author's theories and E. D. Hirsch's provide meaning for Sisyphus's life. (KM)

Shows how discipline-based art education developed, and relates it to Thomas S. Kuhn's theory of paradigm shifts. Critiques Gilbert Clark, Michael Day, and W. Dwaine Greer's theory of disciplined-based art education and highlights mistaken notions in the inquiry methods of curriculum specialists. Concludes that art educators should focus on how…

Analyzes two recent controversies about censorship of arts: Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs and U.S. congressional limits on funding for National Endowment for the Arts. Maintains artistic freedom can be encouraged if all segments of society learn about arts. Recommends that aesthetic education deal with these controversial issues, the social…