The Future of (Art) Education: Obama vs. McCain

Today education is a social issue that is overlooked - put on the back burner while we boil over the war in Iraq, the economy, or even gay marriage. And while all these are valid and substantial concerns, Americans tend to hone in on what affects their pocket books or religious values rather than the shaping of those who will define the future. Truth be told, education is an issue that cannot and should not be downsized. It is just that - it is an issue. With the presidential election quickly approaching, it is unavoidable for me to research and critique the intentions (or lack there-of) of both Barack Obama and John McCain on the subject of not only education, but also specifically art education. One would think that because the U.S. Department of Education clearly advocates the importance of art education (though its last update was over four years ago), that both candidates would at least mention their stance on the subject. I decided to take a gander at other people's thoughts on the web about the education campaigns. Not to my surprise, people like Jerome Weeks for Art&Seek Blog in North Texas and Michele McNeil for Education Week magazine's online blog were also questioning the lack of priority education has in John McCain's campaign. While both Obama and McCain obviously find education to be a task necessary to tackle, McCain's focus seems more out of obligation that honest passion about the importance of education. It is evident in the accessibility of Obama's education plan that he intends to take on the matter progressively and proactively.

Upon googling "Obama art education" I immediately was directed to a PDF file available to download from his campaign website entitled "Barack Obama and Joe Biden: Champions for Arts and Culture." It stresses the support of expanding and funding art organizations and curriculum to teach students, and even teachers, how to think creatively, especially when in positions of leadership. Since 1992, the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts has been cut fifty million dollars, regardless of the fact that art education has proven to raise test scores and reduce crime in schools. On a side note, the U.S. spends over five times as much on the war in Iraq than on education. Those who suffer the most from this budget inbalance are low-income public schools whose art appreciation programs continue you get cut out. Imagine if the trend continues; if slowly music class, art class, drama class, etc. is taken out of the school day. Instead, the day is mainly filled with mathematics and composition. There is no longer that breath of fresh air between academic subjects - the rare fifty minutes to interact with classmates and stimulate creative thinking. Obama understands the crucial part that these lessons play in students' lives, and how it can pay off in the future. He sees the threat of this educational loss, and clearly states how he plans to improve it.

Unlike the ease at which I obtained Obama's art educational plan, when I googled the same, "McCain art education," not even his own web page came up as the most relevant search; rather, a list of slanderous blogs by people asking the same question as I am - How does John McCain view the importance of art education? Apparently, it is not a concern of his. His education campaign is primarily directed at the empowerment of students, teachers and parents. He talked a lot about having a choice of where people can go to school - "If a school will not change, the student should be able to change schools." To me, a school should be an environment that facilitates learning; therefore, it should be the responsibility of the school system to improve its program to make it easier for the mass amount of students. As someone who has had to change schools many times in my life, it is a stress that is not as simple as McCain nonchalantly proposes. Changing schools does not just entail changing curriculum - it is a completely differently environment to adapt to as well as survive in. The stress of having to find a new niche alone is intimidating enough, on top of the new curriculum. Furthermore, not every student has the luxury of mom and dad dropping him/her off in the family station wagon. The logistics of transportation in itself is nearly impossible for families to abruptly replan. Overall, I found McCains "plan" not much of a plan at all, but rather a generalized and vague summary of his awareness of a necessity to change something.

Whether Democrat or Republican, anyone can acknowledge that Obama's campaign puts much more emphasis on education than McCain's. The difference is in the urgency and passion at which these candidates approach this particular issue - and it is easily noticable that McCain lacks this zest. Though this is not to say that McCain is not a passionate man, just not about education. As Michele McNeil from Education Week magazine's blog points out, "McCain is a campaign-finance, foreign-relations, anti-abortion, tax-cut candidate. Education is not his thing. Depending on your perspective, McCain's relative silence on education may be a good thing. If you think the federal government has grossly overreached into the state business of education, then he may be your guy." Michele brings up a good point - not everyone sees a dire need to improve our education system. Education may not seem like an issue to those who vote, because most people who vote are educated. Many Americans feel strongly about keeping our money in our Department of Defense to keep us safe, because the media has reminded them that we are still at war. Also, many Americans have family members overseas, so it hits close to home. However, perhaps if there were images of the tragic state in which our nation's public schools are in, would we be more aware and more open to invest in them? How can the educated relate to the uneducated when the educated are the only ones with a real voice?

Jerome Weeks from a North Texas blog called Art&Seek is also disconcerted about the vagueness of the McCain education platform. He also looked at the website and said, "There is nothing of substance to be found, certainly nothing official." Like the previous blog mentioned from Education Week, he also states that some may not be as concerned about education as much as other matters, and that for those reasons McCain would probably seem like the preferred choice. This blog, on the other hand, goes more in depth about McCains history of funding art education. In 1999, he stated that federal funding for the NEA would be "inappropriate" for tax dollars to go towards material that could be viewed as "obscene" or "offensive." Weeks comments back on this quote by saying in his blog, "This, at least, is fairly plain. He actually indicates a support for art subsidies — only when directed mostly to arts education and with local-community restrictions in place. This is, more or less, the direction the NEA has been cautiously (and, arguably, successfully) pursuing since the overheated culture wars of the ’90s."

A person does not necessarily have to be liberal or an Obama supporter to see the benefits one gets from involvement in arts and culture. What I appreciate most about Barack Obama's stance on education is that it is very specific - he not only acknowledges the importance of arts and culture in creating an enlightened thinker, but also the importance of science and math "to compete in the global context." He can identify which aspects of education are valuable to each part of a person’s life. Without an art curriculum, students are limited to logical thinking, which is not necessarily how everyone's brain functions. Likewise, not everyone's brain thinks creatively. Nevertheless, it is still important to have both stimuli in order to exercise all parts of the brain. He does not see the incorporation of art education as a way to create more artists, but to create cultured, well-rounded individuals. When I consider my candidate for president, it is important to me to see that he has significantly thought about every one of the nation's issues, no matter where it may lie on a list of priorities.

Enlivening Curriculum: Animation in the Classroom

What child does not enjoy an animated feature film? With the technological advancement of computer animation, quick production of these family films has never been easier. When I was a child, I anxiously anticipated each year's animated Disney release, but because of the tedious time it took to produce a hand-drawn picture, the company could only release few at a time. Fortunately for kids today, many more production companies release several of these pictures a month. Even luckier is that now educators are beginning to incorporate animation in curriculum in schools all around the nation.

This past weekend, over four hundred international teachers met in Shanghai, China for the Learning 2.0 conference, a two-day event focusing on the incorporation of technology in education. In addition to the event, the minds behind it have appropriately set up an online forum for participating educators to discuss topics about the conference, as well as access material from each educational session. Issues explored at the conference varied from Internet blogging to digital storytelling; but the session that excited me, as well as the other participants and online users, was the integration of animation into lesson plans. Understandably, the task may seem daunting to students who are less artistic; however, while this activity may seem limiting to those who are apt to use their creative right brains, there are several different forms of animation that are more encouraging to the average student. By including animation in coursework, students are able to apply their knowledge visually and manually - which ultimately engages them with the subject matter and makes it even more comprehensible.

Whether it is for social studies or science class, teachers can utilize animation with any content he or she feels it can be successfully executed. Take for example; if a science class is learning about protein synthesis, they can animate the cell receiving the message, the DNA molecule unwinding, Nucleotides moving along the exposed strand, and so on. However, teachers usually only have a small block of time for each designated subject. So, for a concept like protein synthesis, which would require a lot of tedious sketching of RNA and ribosomes and such, it would be most time efficient to do stop-motion animation. This is when you film or photograph an object moving in small amounts frame by frame, which gives the illusion that the object is moving. Projects such as Gumby or the 1930's version of King Kong are examples of stop-motion with claymation - it is the same technique.

For a class like social studies, students can form groups to sketch a historical scene. If the scene is the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the project would require them to storyboard, write a script, record voice overs, etc., all the while locking into their brains key information and figures involved in the event. And to top it all off, they are having fun and learning to work together as a team to produce a cohesive project. The story could be told

through a simple flip book, or there are programs available such as FrameThief - an application available for download online that automatically captures each frame

rather than having to capture each single frame.

While animation may not be the most time-friendly classroom project, it is undoubtedly rewarding to both student and teacher. Through the process, students have learned about subject material hands-on, and are challenged to take each other's contrasting ideas and make it into one united concept. The teachers are able to work side-by-side with the students, and most likely will take great pleasure and pride in the product. Additionally, the inclusion of storyboarding, writing and directing improves the students' writing as well as listening skills. For those students who are geared more towards artistic expression, it is a creative outlet that is lacking in a lot of curriculum in today's school system. On the other hand, for students who are not as artistic, the planning and execution of the project enables them to get involved as a leader even if they do not have the artistic capability to make the actual animation. The overall experience of animation in the classroom energizes the students and the teacher, and instigates teamwork, creativity and understanding.