Housewives in Salt Lake City, UT have found that adding their own special touches to a piece of art for their home makes it a much more intriguing and personal item. This can happen when one embroiders a name onto a garment, or when one paints an item they purchased elsewhere. Hobby stores have noted this trend, and many not only sell the ceramic pieces, but also provide a place to paint pottery.
This is an excellent activity for a family to do together, as it not only allows them to share their own unique abilities, but it brings them all together in an activity that does not involve eating or television. Young children around the ages of 8 to 12 benefit by the act of concentrating on one activity for a long period of time, children around the ages of 3 to 8 are honing their fine-motor skills, and teenagers just like to be artistic and unique. Mom and Dad get bragging rights for the work their kids do, not to mention being such good parents to engage in this activity with their children at all.
With the public education system dumping arts and music classes, not to mention physical education and free play, kids need these activities more than ever. The basics of school have always been reading, writing, and arithmetic, and no one would argue that these skills are very important to develop in this ever-changing world. However, without being able to see the world in more than a right-brained manner, the next generation will be little more than cubicle dwellers, and we may see a reduction in new technologies or ideas being developed in the United States.
Because the more creative students do not learn well in a completely linear-styled environment, these students often drop out of school and never pursue much of a college education. This can become a total tragedy for the country. Many of these students do excel in art, science, literature, and music; and by removing these electives from the curriculum they simply give up on school completely.
Each year the numbers of students who drop out rather than graduate in the usual way becomes more and more nebulous. The frustrated students who do hang on till the end often do so because they are part of clubs in the school which allow them to pursue the arts still, or at least grant them understanding ears to hear them. The standardized testing system which was put in place during the 90s has been a sore subject for many creative-minded students because it requires them to have a learning style of rote memorization, which many do not possess.
There is no doubt that this change in education has been intentional, and society as a whole has been steered in a direction that encourages memorization over learning. Regurgitation of information is prized over the ability to think a problem through for oneself. Because the female students tend to fare better in this world of standardized testing, many teachers, especially in the elementary school ages, try to push the male students into alternative classes and keep only those students who score high as mainstream.
By creative alternatives they are usually talking about special education, and this has always consisted of a dumbed-down curriculum managed through workbooks and multiple-choice quizzes minutes after the material is read. They are not required even to memorize, only to read and moderately comprehend. This allows teachers to focus on the linear, right-brained students who test well.
It is unclear whether or not pursuing artistic endeavors outside the educational setting will encourage students to stay in school or not, but it is a social test worth conducting. Even if the rate of attrition in public schools does continue, at least those students will have a better rounded experience overall because they have the ability to paint a portrait or play a song. The hope is that, with the proper creative outlets available, most any student will be better able to endure the boredom of the Three Rs.
This is an excellent activity for a family to do together, as it not only allows them to share their own unique abilities, but it brings them all together in an activity that does not involve eating or television. Young children around the ages of 8 to 12 benefit by the act of concentrating on one activity for a long period of time, children around the ages of 3 to 8 are honing their fine-motor skills, and teenagers just like to be artistic and unique. Mom and Dad get bragging rights for the work their kids do, not to mention being such good parents to engage in this activity with their children at all.
With the public education system dumping arts and music classes, not to mention physical education and free play, kids need these activities more than ever. The basics of school have always been reading, writing, and arithmetic, and no one would argue that these skills are very important to develop in this ever-changing world. However, without being able to see the world in more than a right-brained manner, the next generation will be little more than cubicle dwellers, and we may see a reduction in new technologies or ideas being developed in the United States.
Because the more creative students do not learn well in a completely linear-styled environment, these students often drop out of school and never pursue much of a college education. This can become a total tragedy for the country. Many of these students do excel in art, science, literature, and music; and by removing these electives from the curriculum they simply give up on school completely.
Each year the numbers of students who drop out rather than graduate in the usual way becomes more and more nebulous. The frustrated students who do hang on till the end often do so because they are part of clubs in the school which allow them to pursue the arts still, or at least grant them understanding ears to hear them. The standardized testing system which was put in place during the 90s has been a sore subject for many creative-minded students because it requires them to have a learning style of rote memorization, which many do not possess.
There is no doubt that this change in education has been intentional, and society as a whole has been steered in a direction that encourages memorization over learning. Regurgitation of information is prized over the ability to think a problem through for oneself. Because the female students tend to fare better in this world of standardized testing, many teachers, especially in the elementary school ages, try to push the male students into alternative classes and keep only those students who score high as mainstream.
By creative alternatives they are usually talking about special education, and this has always consisted of a dumbed-down curriculum managed through workbooks and multiple-choice quizzes minutes after the material is read. They are not required even to memorize, only to read and moderately comprehend. This allows teachers to focus on the linear, right-brained students who test well.
It is unclear whether or not pursuing artistic endeavors outside the educational setting will encourage students to stay in school or not, but it is a social test worth conducting. Even if the rate of attrition in public schools does continue, at least those students will have a better rounded experience overall because they have the ability to paint a portrait or play a song. The hope is that, with the proper creative outlets available, most any student will be better able to endure the boredom of the Three Rs.
