{"id":7796,"date":"2012-08-25T18:19:53","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T01:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7796"},"modified":"2013-02-07T21:11:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T05:11:26","slug":"the-oregonian-just-doesnt-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/25\/the-oregonian-just-doesnt-get-it\/","title":{"rendered":"the oregonian just doesn’t get it"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a cynical and baldly anti-arts and anti-schools editorial<\/a> last week, the Oregonian’s editorial board recommended that voters repudiate the Creative Arts Network’s ballot issue. It it doubly ridiculous that the editorial board, (1) protests the ‘regressive’ nature of the assessment (which never seemed to bother them before), and (2) wants to deny a pretty painless assessment for all Portlanders that would benefit the Portland Public Schools at a time\u00a0when the PPS needs all the help they can get. Plus, arts organizations and teachers don’t ‘deserve’ a tax just for them. Let’s see if that ‘logic’ holds the next time there is a ballot issue dealing with a major league baseball stadium or some other boondoggle that is necessary ‘for the public interest’.<\/p>\n

What is missed in all of this anti-tax, Tea Party inspired rhetoric is that the fine arts are, in all of the most successful education systems in the leading industrialized countries, regarded as essential to the production of a intellectually advanced person who is ready to innovate in the workforce. Take Japan, which ranks #2 in science education, #4 in math, and #5 in reading, according to a 2009 study<\/a> by the\u00a0\u00a0Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)<\/a>\u00a0(In case you were wondering, the US scored #17 in science, #25 in math, and #14 in reading. A UNESCO draft report “The Present State of Arts Education in Japan<\/a>” [pdf file] by Akiyama Takasu summarizes the governmental attitude towards the arts in the national educational system:<\/p>\n

The Fundamental Law for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts … has stipulated the policies the Japanese nation ought to adopt for promoting culture and arts, such as the arrangement of education and research institutions concerned with culture and arts, and improving education related to culture and arts such as experiential learning concerned with culture and arts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that system dedicates the follow amount of time to each segment of the arts, both separately and in an integrated curriculum:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And the paper also stresses the benefits, within the framework of a complete education, of a well-rounded and persistant course of arts education:<\/p>\n

\n
The fundamental abilities do not refer only to knowledge and skills (e.g. reading and writing notation, skills to play musical instruments). In the Course of Study, the fundamental abilities also refer to the abilities of pupils and students to express their feelings, imagination, and thinking by such means as writing, drawing, performing, and making (expressive skills), and to the abilities of pupils and students to recognize positively strengths and aesthetic values. To cultivate the fundamental abilities, pupils and students\u2019 creative activities are crucial, because such activities are the very basis of other activities. It is not too much to say that they can change pupils and students from being \u201csuccessors to a culture\u201d which includes Japanese, Eastern and Western traditions, to \u201ccreators of a future culture\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Don’t our students deserve this same dedication to their complete education? I think that they do, and so do all of my colleagues in the arts, whether they are involved in directly educating future generations, or not. We owe it to future generations to continue the support of the arts in general education. That we have such a relatively thriving arts culture in Portland has much to do with now shuttered arts education policies that ended between 10-20 years ago – the effects of whose absence is only now becoming critically apparent. In addition, there are non-profits that have done their part to stem the tide of an artless school system, among them the Community Music Center, Metro Arts, Inc., Portland Youth Philharmonic, ETHOS Music Center, and Metropolitan Youth Symphony. I find it unacceptable to deny our public school students essential and critical parts of their education because we don’t want to pay for it. If anything is worth paying for, it is the complete and full education of our coming generations of artists, entrepreneurs, employees, and leaders.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a cynical and baldly anti-arts and anti-schools editorial last week, the Oregonian’s editorial board recommended that voters repudiate the Creative Arts Network’s ballot issue. It it doubly ridiculous that the editorial board, (1) protests the ‘regressive’ nature of the assessment (which never seemed to bother them before), and (2) wants to deny a pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[247,25],"tags":[3114,3108,3106,2626,3666,3113,3662],"class_list":["post-7796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-portland","tag-arts-education","tag-ballot-measure","tag-creative-advocacy-network","tag-japan","tag-oregon","tag-oregonian-editorial-board","tag-portland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-21K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7780,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/22\/buy-10-oregon-symphony-tickets-and-support-can-initiative\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":0},"title":"buy $10 oregon symphony tickets and support CAN","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone likes cheap tickets, right? And most everyone also would like our children to have access to the arts and music education in all of the Portland Public Schools, too. You can realize both goals in one easy step by partnering with the Oregon Symphony in support of the Creative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/logo-full.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8049,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/28\/autumn-for-the-arts-in-portland\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":1},"title":"autumn for the arts in portland?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today came the surprise announcement of the resignation of Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT) artistic director Christopher Stowell, effective December 31. Part of a wave of new administrators\/artistic directors at the major Portland arts institutions (among them Carlos Kalmar at the Oregon Symphony, Christopher Mattaliano of the Portland Opera, and Chris\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Christopher_Stowell_0809.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2950,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/05\/oregon-symphony-education-programs-not-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":2},"title":"oregon symphony: education programs not dead","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to inquiries that resulted from David Stabler's article about the suspension of the OSO's widely lauded Community Music Partnership program, the symphony's development department released the following statement of clarification: To our Foundation and Government Supporters: Last week, this article ran in the Oregonian (see link to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2921,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/29\/how-oregon-is-the-oregon-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":3},"title":"how ‘oregon’ is the oregon symphony?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"After reading David Stabler's story yesterday on the cutting of the Oregon Symphony's nationally-renowned Community Music Partnership, which provided a year-long musical interaction between OSO musicians and a different rural community each year, I've been pondering the following question: should the Oregon Symphony still be called the Oregon Symphony?\u00a0 We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"oregon-map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/oregon-map-400x255.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/12\/seattle-loses-long-time-music-critic\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":4},"title":"Seattle loses long-time music critic – is Portland next?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Melinda Bargreen, classical music critic in Seattle for the past 30 years, has accepted a buy-out from the Seattle Times as part of a restructuring of the paper's staff. You can read her last column here. Now read this blog entry by our lone full-time classical music critic here in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4432,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/14\/the-arts-are-worth-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":7796,"position":5},"title":"the arts ARE worth it","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you want to know why the arts face an uphill battle in the country? Check out the comments over at the Mercury that arose after it was discovered in the proposed city budget that $200,000 had been appropriated to help send the Oregon Symphony to Carnegie Hall in 2011.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}