Imagine a crowded veteran's hall roaring with spectators viewing their children's school work at a curriculum faire, the usual exhibits of math tests, body parts and package products predominating; and a handful of children, sans microphone, bravely standing on chairs, shouting out their poems over this din, willing the unruly crowd into submission, taming them with their flowered words. People who probably never heard a poem performed in their lives, stopped and listened to the children recite these islands of refuge, small poems to keep back oppression behind the backdrop of the Gulf War.
Entering its 27th year, California Poets in the Schools has reached an estimated half a million kids. I can't even imagine how many poems have been generated in that amount of time but it all came home when a teacher handed me a hefty folder of nearly 200 poems typed by five classes of kids during their free time in computer lab. These were the same kids who practiced for six hours straight before the curriculum faire so they'd be ready to sing out their poems to an unsuspecting public.
Entering its 27th year, California Poets in the Schools has reached an estimated half a million kids. I can't even imagine how many poems have been generated in that amount of time but it all came home when a teacher handed me a hefty folder of nearly 200 poems typed by five classes of kids during their free time in computer lab. These were the same kids who practiced for six hours straight before the curriculum faire so they'd be ready to sing out their poems to an unsuspecting public.
Understand that we only met four to six times (though they were double sessions, and we did some art too), but the kids were so motivated by the thought of breaking into print, they submitted two and three poems to the CPITS statewide anthology. How was I to choose? Some poems were new poems written or revised after I left the school.
And I realised that the potential of the printed word reaching out across borders has empowered these students to reach far beyond their classroom communities. It's more than the possibility of fame and fortune (though no one ever exactly got rich quick on poetry), it's the urge to communicate with the larger world, to put a cartesian spin to the quote: I feel, therefore I am. Poet laureate Robert Frost said to write poetry is a brave thing to do.
And I realised that the potential of the printed word reaching out across borders has empowered these students to reach far beyond their classroom communities. It's more than the possibility of fame and fortune (though no one ever exactly got rich quick on poetry), it's the urge to communicate with the larger world, to put a cartesian spin to the quote: I feel, therefore I am. Poet laureate Robert Frost said to write poetry is a brave thing to do.
My mother reminds me that when the first generation of kids that I taught comes of age, they will begin to make an impact upon society. They are the voters, the ones sent to fight in the Middle East. At a peace rally before war was declaimed, I saw scores of my former students marching, marching down Mendocino Avenue to Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa. They were rightly concerned...
Testimonials from teachers and parents for the necessity of programs such as CPITS continues to grow. Another school administrator facing the usual financial deficits proclaimed: we will not cut the arts from out budget. Since 1982, the CPITS program has enhanced student learning skills and dramatically increased our test scores across the curriculum.
Testimonials from teachers and parents for the necessity of programs such as CPITS continues to grow. Another school administrator facing the usual financial deficits proclaimed: we will not cut the arts from out budget. Since 1982, the CPITS program has enhanced student learning skills and dramatically increased our test scores across the curriculum.
A teacher from another district said she recently judged fifth grade students on written language proficiency skills. She added, she was surprised to learn that one student who had written several pages (and unfortunately still didn't pass the test—English is his second language), was a former student of hers, a former non-writer. She directly attributes his increased writing skills and interest in language to a CPITS workshop. She listed several students who became "writers" after the CPITS workshop ended.
I was unavoidably late to class the other day, it was a low skills class where I had to pull teeth to make breakthroughs; one girl wrote to me, "most kids in my class don't understand poetry" and proceeded to write me a poem.
Recent studies showed that on a scale of one to ten, people rate the arts somewhere between nine and ten (the lowest score); but when asked what's most important to them personally, they listed the arts as of primary importance. It is a fact that nationally, more people attend arts events that sports events.
Recent studies showed that on a scale of one to ten, people rate the arts somewhere between nine and ten (the lowest score); but when asked what's most important to them personally, they listed the arts as of primary importance. It is a fact that nationally, more people attend arts events that sports events.
With over 30 million people, the highest population and per capita of artists, California should lead the nation in financial support for the arts; however in both arts and education (I believe they're both intrinsically linked), California ranks 36th in the nation. Why this discrepancy between personal and public values? In a so-called "primitive culture" such as Bali, there is no word for art because art is part of their every day lives. Why not here in California?
No mattter how primary we rate arts and education in our personal lives, with an enormous state deficit, they are about to take a severe beating. However, if we continue to keep silence as to what is personally important to our lives, these programs will continue to die.
No mattter how primary we rate arts and education in our personal lives, with an enormous state deficit, they are about to take a severe beating. However, if we continue to keep silence as to what is personally important to our lives, these programs will continue to die.
It's up to all of us to contact our legislators and tell them the financial and emotional impact the arts have on our lives, to support the arts politically, then we can heal the rift, the dichotomy. Why not start with the children? Staking a claim in our cultural future is a brave thing to do. After all, "the pursuit of happiness" is legislated in our constitution. Don't we have that right?
I don't know when or where this was published, it was from Arts Day politicking, so I am publishing it here
No comments:
Post a Comment