This summer I've been browsing the internet and getting certain ideas today's education and the job market. Sites like artsusa.org and artsjournal.com have blogs and articles that among other things express concern for the viability of the arts in our dismal economy.At the same time, congress extended long term unemployment benefits
"How can we persuade 'them' of the importance and benefits of the arts?" is a common cry on these sites. The underlying assumption appears to be that there is money to pay for the arts if only every person in power were fully persuaded of its value. I disagree. A better question would be, "Given high unemployment and lack of funding, how can we keep the arts alive?"
Let me see what jobs currently have good prospects, I thought to myself, since a commonly held belief is that arts in education helps prepare students for future careers. Ahh. Somehow I got enrolled in something called JobAlerts, which sends me 5 or 6 emails a day proclaiming thousands of jobs in "my area." When I pursued these promising leads, I discovered that JobAlerts was informing me of TRAINING opportunities at vocational or graduate schools, which then would presumably lead to thousands of jobs. For example, for me, the emails claimed that training in medical billing was a hot prospect.
I turned to Google Search to find today's top career options, I learned the most promising fields were financial management, engineering and marketing/communications. Hmm, marketing included designers; that's art. Most top careers required a B.A., or Masters, often in the exact, specific area of the job.
Exploring Craigslist, I was enlightened further. In the education field, the main jobs listed were SAT tutors-- mainly math -- and preschools. Nothing about teaching arts integration, poetry or drama, my "areas." By the way, there are no theater or arts categories on Craigslist, Under TV and media, I found listings for video editors, and top models. Being over 60 and overweight, I will not be applying for Top Model any time soon. In other categories there were ads for cooks and experienced retail sales people,
I started to wonder about the future of liberal arts education and the difficulty in second guessing what job openings there might happen to be at the time people are seeking work. The best advice for our students appeared to be get a college major in the fields most likely to have job openings, and quickly. Or else get any B.A. and then get specific vocational training. At the same time, I contrasted the time-honored advice from respected successful people that the best way to prepare for your future is to "follow your passion."
My head spinning, I came back to the arts and to my parents' advice many years ago. "The arts are something you do on the side while you work in a 'regular' job." I worked minimum wage for a while in my twenties to support my "music habit." If this is what it takes to keep the arts alive, so be it. But I continue to believe that arts in education indeed prepares our students for future careers and most importantly, for life.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Founding
(For some reason I can't type titles and labels that are more than one word, without English turning into Hindi. Searching setting and editing options brings no results. Fascinating!) Today's blog follows, hopefully in English as well as other languages.
We sat at his kitchen table. Fred, a wonderful volunteer from Volunteers for the Arts, was helping me fill out Opera Piccola's mysteriously long Oakland Cultural Arts grant proposal. It was 1989. I remember that Fred's tiny table had one leg shorter than the others, so it jiggled as we examined "four year budget history," and "schedule of proposed activities." It was my first grant proposal, and miraculously, we received $3,000 to present school assemblies and library shows around Oakland.
A few months before, my best friend Margaret Arighi had won our non profit status by filling out more endless government forms. In a whirlwind of administrative activity, she was immediately elected to the high status post of Treasurer of the Board of Directors. This august body was composed that first year of any friend I could find to lend his/her name to our letterhead and attend monthly meetings at Margaret's dinner table. Incredibly, each friend/member had complementary skills.
Our Business Center was the bedroom of the Oakland home where I lived with my husband and sons. "You brought the check register?" Treasurer Arighi asked for the bookkeeping records that back then were kept in our checkbook-- until my car was burglarized and the checkbook stolen with our month's records in it. Quicken and Quickbooks had not been created. For years I used a typewriter and white-out to create our annual brochure. Proud of my expertise with scissors and glue, I cut, pasted, and xeroxed these amazing documents, followed by labeling, bundling and lengthy discussions with the less-than-impressed clerks at the Oakland Bulk Mail Center.
Our regular Staff Meetings were loud and exciting, as our combined total of 4 sons munched cereal, banged plastic hammers, called and leaped in the background. We filled the teapot at least three times and Margaret instructed me in the exciting routines of "Cash Expense List" and "Budgeting for Next Fiscal Year." For someone who had barely passed high school math, I stunned our Board with my almost exact estimation of our income and expenses every year.
Several people recently asked me how to found a non profit. After reflecting on our first year, my 8 Step Method is simple. 1) Gather together a few friends and folks with similar interests. 2) Fill out the non profit forms in gatherings supported by great refreshments. 3) Form a Board of Directors. 4) Create and love an amazing mission. 5) Schedule regular board and staff meetings (even if they are all volunteers). 6) Find funding. 7) Try to recycle paper-- the paperwork gobbles up entire forests. 8) Be surprised and grateful for each success; try not to worry about rejections.
We sat at his kitchen table. Fred, a wonderful volunteer from Volunteers for the Arts, was helping me fill out Opera Piccola's mysteriously long Oakland Cultural Arts grant proposal. It was 1989. I remember that Fred's tiny table had one leg shorter than the others, so it jiggled as we examined "four year budget history," and "schedule of proposed activities." It was my first grant proposal, and miraculously, we received $3,000 to present school assemblies and library shows around Oakland.
A few months before, my best friend Margaret Arighi had won our non profit status by filling out more endless government forms. In a whirlwind of administrative activity, she was immediately elected to the high status post of Treasurer of the Board of Directors. This august body was composed that first year of any friend I could find to lend his/her name to our letterhead and attend monthly meetings at Margaret's dinner table. Incredibly, each friend/member had complementary skills.
Our Business Center was the bedroom of the Oakland home where I lived with my husband and sons. "You brought the check register?" Treasurer Arighi asked for the bookkeeping records that back then were kept in our checkbook-- until my car was burglarized and the checkbook stolen with our month's records in it. Quicken and Quickbooks had not been created. For years I used a typewriter and white-out to create our annual brochure. Proud of my expertise with scissors and glue, I cut, pasted, and xeroxed these amazing documents, followed by labeling, bundling and lengthy discussions with the less-than-impressed clerks at the Oakland Bulk Mail Center.
Our regular Staff Meetings were loud and exciting, as our combined total of 4 sons munched cereal, banged plastic hammers, called and leaped in the background. We filled the teapot at least three times and Margaret instructed me in the exciting routines of "Cash Expense List" and "Budgeting for Next Fiscal Year." For someone who had barely passed high school math, I stunned our Board with my almost exact estimation of our income and expenses every year.
Several people recently asked me how to found a non profit. After reflecting on our first year, my 8 Step Method is simple. 1) Gather together a few friends and folks with similar interests. 2) Fill out the non profit forms in gatherings supported by great refreshments. 3) Form a Board of Directors. 4) Create and love an amazing mission. 5) Schedule regular board and staff meetings (even if they are all volunteers). 6) Find funding. 7) Try to recycle paper-- the paperwork gobbles up entire forests. 8) Be surprised and grateful for each success; try not to worry about rejections.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
ethics
I heard a heated discussion on the radio this week about the woman sentenced to stoning in Iran. I had no idea how brutal a form of execution this is, undoubtedly cruel and unusual punishment.
The two sides of the debate boiled down to: can those outside a culture or legal system have the right to criticize or impose their view of ethics/morality on that culture? Does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have a right to apply? Women and men called in from all over the world on this radio program, presented by the BBC. The discussion also referred to the current debate in France, where there is a new law forbidding women to wear veils that cover their faces. One caller referred to a news report of a woman killing her daughter-in-law for having an affair (considered a crime in her culture); when the woman's daughter testified against her in the U.S. murder trial, the daughter was ostracized and event threatened by her community.
When we talked about these issues in my high school drama class, about 95% of the group thought that countries and cultures have a right to pursue the customs of their religion without interference. "It's their religion," they said. A few students thought it depended on the situation.
How far is too far? Was the verdict in the Mehserle case right? Is what some people call our "occupation" of Afghanistan based on saving human rights, or protecting financial interests? Is lethal injection a violation of human rights, and if so, do other countries have the right to invade us to prevent it? What about genital mutilation as a coming of age custom still in practice?
The next day, the news reported that Iran was not proceeding with the stoning sentence for the woman.
These are all questions that our education should prepare us to face. How are we doing?
The two sides of the debate boiled down to: can those outside a culture or legal system have the right to criticize or impose their view of ethics/morality on that culture? Does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have a right to apply? Women and men called in from all over the world on this radio program, presented by the BBC. The discussion also referred to the current debate in France, where there is a new law forbidding women to wear veils that cover their faces. One caller referred to a news report of a woman killing her daughter-in-law for having an affair (considered a crime in her culture); when the woman's daughter testified against her in the U.S. murder trial, the daughter was ostracized and event threatened by her community.
When we talked about these issues in my high school drama class, about 95% of the group thought that countries and cultures have a right to pursue the customs of their religion without interference. "It's their religion," they said. A few students thought it depended on the situation.
How far is too far? Was the verdict in the Mehserle case right? Is what some people call our "occupation" of Afghanistan based on saving human rights, or protecting financial interests? Is lethal injection a violation of human rights, and if so, do other countries have the right to invade us to prevent it? What about genital mutilation as a coming of age custom still in practice?
The next day, the news reported that Iran was not proceeding with the stoning sentence for the woman.
These are all questions that our education should prepare us to face. How are we doing?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
vacation
Apologies, am taking a short holiday this week. A reminder: teachers don't really get what may seem like two months off in the summer. They are life long learners who attend professional development in the summer or teach summer school or summer camp. I am enjoying the World Cup and the weather; more blogging next week.
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