wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Erica from Bear Mountain, NY October 21, 2008 - 12:26PM

  I was just listening to your pledge drive in which someone commented that WNYC helps its listeners learn about "the world as it is" and to think about "the world as it could be."

  I truly believe that the arts are the key to creating this new world. How can we imagine a better world if we haven't practiced using our imaginations through painting or creative writing? How can we work together to create a better world without the collaborative practices we learn in theatre or choral singing? How can we persist through difficult times without the discipline and resourcefulness we learn by studying all forms of arts techniques?

  Without imagination, there is no such thing as innovation, no such thing as progress, no such thing as hope.

  Arts education (especially when explicitly integrated across the full curriculum) is essential to giving students tools to create the world as they wish it to be.

  
  
• [2] David Jenkins from Great Barrington MA October 21, 2008 - 12:38PM

  As someone who was educated in the British public education system - I really resented Art teachers who injected very liberal cultural and political ideas in their teaching in order to cultivate their view of political & cultural consciousness. I felt cheated later in life when I realized I understood NOTHING about the classic arts. I think Art IS often taught as a veil from political ideas, expression, especially anti-establishment views which many contemporary artists like to promote. One of the guests who is an educator seems to really reflect that approach to teaching art

  
  
• [3] Mr. T from NYC October 21, 2008 - 12:45PM

  http://www.mayhempoets.com/

  
  
• [4] susy from manhattan October 21, 2008 - 12:51PM

  I'm really enjoying hearing these opinions. Creativity does foster pride...and I think Rosie Perez is making great, overarching points to that effect.

  
  
• [5] Dick Cameron from No. Bergen,NJ October 21, 2008 - 01:49PM

  I was fortunate enough to attend primary school in the sixties and early seveties when arts education was alive and more or less well. Teachers and administrators fostered in me the notion that creative expression was not only a civil right but gave a context to the often wild and imaginative interpretions I made of the world around me. Without this my intellect and spirit would have surely languished in a sea of boredom, isolation and complacency.

  
  
• [6] robert forman from Hoboken October 21, 2008 - 01:52PM

  As a Fulbright scholar with the Huichol Indians in Northern Mexico the dogs and pigs eat the waste and it all seemed to work.

  In the city's I found the sanitation more of a problem