I went to this amazing professional development class at the Corcoran tonight and began thinking again about the benefits of the Arts in education. In my art studio at Murch, children identify themselves daily as innovators and creators. Within my classroom walls they work hard for themselves to satisfy an intensely personal journey. Rarely are children trusted and fully encouraged to seek for the answers within? Yet, that is what we do daily in art.
I don't just think I have the best job in the world; I know I have the best job in the world. Every day I experience children growing and gaining confidence from facing their fears, from learning from their mistakes and from looking within for all their answers.
Raising children who trust and honor their inner voice, who can articulate and combine ideas clearly or can combine tools from various venues in their work, will be most sought after in a future world which we do not yet know. Decades from now , it's the outside-the-box thinkers who will become indispensable to humanity.
The Arts is much more than creating artists, or reaching those 'hard-to-reach kids'. The Arts is about creating confident, flexible and articulate adults.
Date: Saturday, September 10, 2011 through Sunday,September 11, 2011
