General News

UFT VP: Arts lacking

Apr 24, 2008 4:30 PM

UFT Vice President Leo Casey decried the dearth of the arts in public schools in testimony before a City Council hearing on April 8 on the state of arts education in New York City schools.

“The people who come to New York from all over the world for its theater, art, dance and music do not know New York’s dirty little secret: Our schools are failing in the arts,” said Casey. “The majority of elementary and middle school students are not getting even the most minimal state-mandated requirements in arts education.”

Casey, the vice president for academic high schools, cited the Department of Education’s own data showing that only 29 percent of 7th- and 8th-graders are getting the state-mandated levels of arts education while only 4 percent of elementary school children are getting the entire array of the four required arts forms of dance, music, theater and visual arts for every grade. About 20 percent of the schools surveyed by the DOE had no licensed arts teachers whatsoever, which totals to more than 200 schools.

Without arts education, Casey argued, students are not getting the well-rounded education that they deserve and are entitled to.

In the early grades, Casey said, the arts foster self-expression, provide an emotional outlet and help develop socialization skills. In the middle grades, arts programs encourage critical thinking, enhance self-confidence and provide creative emotional outlets for the youngest adolescents. And arts in high schools, he said, train the performers and artists of tomorrow.

Casey contended that arts in the classroom took a hit when the city stopped dedicating funds for Project Arts, principals were no longer required to spend money on the arts, and the DOE imposed midyear budget cuts on schools this past January.

“So if you’re a principal, and you have a choice between cutting English and math, which are what the success of a school is judged on, or cutting the arts, which would you cut?” asked Casey.

Casey urged the city to take the following steps:

• Restore funds specifically dedicated to the arts.
• Hold the system as a whole — not just individual schools — accountable for providing the state-mandated arts curriculum; and
• Ensure that New York City’s cultural organizations — museums, theaters, orchestras — and their benefactors join in partnerships with city schools.

Casey’s full testimony is available on the UFT Web site, www.uft.org, under News & Issues.