Art Education in Elite Schools
Adelaide Seeman / Globally Elite /

After joining the research seminar this semester, I met with Adam about potential ideas for a final project. I was willing to do anything he needed me to do, but he really pushed me to find something new and personally interesting. I mentioned doing something related to art, but I didn’t know how or what it would end up looking like. Adam and Pat helped me figure out a general outline having to do with the ties between art programs, elite schools, and privilege.
I began my research on art programs in elite schools thinking that there’d be articles or chapters that covered some aspect of art programs and what they mean to privilege and eliteness. Before being a part of this globally elite research group, I had never thought of art programs as reinforcements of privilege, but I had also never thought of an elite education that way either. Given all the new information I had learned in just the past year, I assumed that some of this would be surrounding art education. However, I quickly found that there was far less than I had thought. There were plenty of readings that mentioned art as an appendage to a curriculum, but none truly focused on art education as a separate body. If it was acknowledged to have a role at all, it was only as an “extra,” or a supplement. I found myself wondering why art is seen as an extra, and if it is an extra to a curriculum centered around requirements, why is it given so much prestige? In that question, I found part of an answer.
First of all, art is considered an extra to the curriculum because it is a different type of learning experience from any of the other core areas of a curriculum. Unlike the typical experiences of science, math, English, history, or language, art requires a different environment. In an art class, you get up and participate in every class. You can share ideas or areas of interest, but each product is entirely individual. Furthermore, there is no true grading rubric; nor can you give a final exam in the way we all understand a final exam to be. Secondly, art is considered an extra because of the material demands of a class. Paints, papers, scissors, erasers, easels, brushes, charcoal, etc. are expensive and constantly needing replacement. Some people and institutions can’t afford the supplies needed to provide this environment. Thirdly, art is often associated with underachievement. People who associate with the arts are often also associated with low performance levels in other areas of academic rigor. I don’t know why this is at all. One explanation for that negative association I have developed is that because art relies heavily on the individual’s creation and others’ interpretations, everyone has their own experience with art. It’s similar to the idea of people going to a museum and saying “I could do that.” Fourthly, art is seen as an extra because of its explicit definition as one. Because art is not a part of the core subject areas, and because people always do it as an extracurricular activity, it is necessarily associated with being an extra. This extra-curricular aspect to art also contributes to it being seen as a lesser area of study, as those who participate in extracurricular activities have that extra time to do so. Thus, their extra time is a signal of leisure. And because leisure time is for relaxation and not strenuous activity – physical or mental – art is therefore a practice of relaxation and not of rigor.
However, this idea of leisure and art and all of the associations that come with it was another connection that my mind caught on because people with leisure time, and particularly those with leisure time who have the desire and capital to participate in extra activities for their own interest and improvement are often seen as those with high amounts of capital – in all meanings of the word – and of high intellect. And thus the interesting paradox of art: those students who choose it as a primary focus are seen as less academically rigorous and even as less intelligent, but an association with and knowledge of art is seen as social capital and helps an individual’s standing as an intellectual.
A few people in this research project have been working with social aesthetics. I thought my project would go more down that path of looking at images and interpreting their context and significance; however, I have found myself more reading for and experiencing a lack of art education. And I’ve found myself asking how it came to be that this one area of life has come to signal a sort of intellect that provides the people with the experience with some extra social capital. Through this process, I’ve learned that art education has many issues, but the greatest challenge is its association with the extracurricular. This association limits its perceived importance in the grand scheme of education and further limits art educators from pushing limits for fear that this already-extra program will be cut.