Week 1 Readings MAC

As I was reading this week's assignment on The Art of Possibility, I was incredibly moved. I'm sure part of that is because I am a musician, and the Zander's approach much of their writing from the view a professional musician. In addition to this, though, we have a beautiful and well illuminated view into the human psyche. These readings open up the basic fear we all have of "not being good enough" for the task at hand. In education this can be devastating. Witness the student who feels himself (or herself) to always be judged against another student or sibling. As teachers, we easily fall into the trap of judging one student's performance against that of another. The bell curve effect -- that someone must be the best, and someone must be the worst, and all others must fall somewhere between -- has permeated the American educational system.

In The Art of Possibility, the authors allow a more individualized approach to the education of your students. It is not a matter of relaxing, or indeed removing, standards, but of taking each student and enabling them to reach their maximum potential. I was particularly moved by the concept of "giving the A" to students by having them basically determine their goals. The likelihood of a student reaching a goal he has set for himself is much higher than the likelihood of meeting a predetermined standard imposed upon him.

Since our goal as educators is to foster the desire to develop and succeed in our students, this philosophy seems tailor made. One of the biggest complaints I hear from fellow teachers is that no matter how "hard" they teach, their students are just not coming up to the mark. Perhaps the "mark" is one that the students have not yet had the experience in life to recognize.

I do recognize the enviable position we in the fine arts have, as opposed to the core curriculum teachers. While we meet both state and federal standards within our fields, students are not required to perform on national standardized tests to insure continued financial support of the institution. Still, I find that most students within the grade range of PreK through 8th grade really want to excel and please their parents and their teachers. Since each individual develops and reaches benchmarks at their own unique rate, the arbitrary standard of achievement not only crushes the spirit of the learner, but creates behavior problems within the classroom. Even within the top echelon of students, there is anxiety as to their position within the group. As educators, we have an obligation to assure that each student reaches his or her maximum potential, not just the arbitrary standard set by the law of averages. Yes, the student must acquire skills along the way, but the student who has been told he "can't cut it" certainly never will.