"The function of a school is not to help kids do well in school.

"The function of a school is to help kids do well in life."

-- Elliott Eisner

by David Ardito and Pasquale Tassone

As two arts educators with over 60 years of combined teaching/administrative experience, we are deeply concerned about the Arlington Public Schools’ financial picture for the next academic year. As longtime residents of Arlington, we are aware of the potential impact that such a bleak scenario has for public education in general, the arts in particular and the quality of life in our community.

As educators ,we are all aware of the intrinsic educational benefits the arts have to offer but the fact is that in too many school systems, the value of those benefits are appreciated only when times are good and finances abundant. We have been relatively fortunate in Arlington. Our community has valued the arts in our schools. The arts have thrived outside of the schools as well in theatre, dance, music, and the visual arts. The arts and the schools have helped put Arlington on the proverbial map and have helped the town become the livable and desirable place that it is.

We could offer substantial evidence to support the position that quality arts education is essential for all children, but the chances are that you probably have heard it already. Many studies demonstrate the correlation between quality arts education and children’s general performance and interest in school. MCAS cannot measure the origination of new ideas, or students’ expression of personal feelings, or the students’ effective use of their imaginations or the intelligence that comes from working and thinking with their hands. But this makes these performances and skills no less important or less “core” to a child’s full development. Visual and musical literacy do not happen by chance.

We have wonderful performing and visual arts programs that have brought a lot of esteem to our town for many years.  We have produced fabulous artists, many of whom have gone on to make a profession of what may have begun as an elective in our schools.  Some of us are even products of the very programs in which we teach! These wonderful success stories all begin in our elementary schools, where our young artists are introduced to the joy of experiencing art and music. 

We nurture the students through middle school and high school and then we graduate confident young artists who can take their place at any college or university.  If we eliminate arts opportunities for our students in the elementary schools, we will eventually have nothing to show in our secondary schools. And, in today’s college application process, our students will still have to compete with those who have had all of the arts-education advantages including the development of their creative and critical thinking skills.

While we are cognizant of the pressures being placed on our school system, where student fees and class sizes will go up, where electives may be eliminated and programs decimated, we feel strongly that the educational losses to students are far too great if we significantly reduce arts education in your schools. And any savings from the reduction of certified arts teachers are offset by the need to hire teacher aides to provide preparation time for the regular classroom teacher.

This makes it even harder to swallow the loss of programs that are so critical to our children. We ask you to think very carefully about the ramifications of eliminating or reducing our arts programs and to stand courageously for what is best for our children.

We need to decide what kind of a school system we want the Arlington Public Schools to be.  As arts educators and as parents, we cannot fathom an educational program that does not include the arts as core subjects.  This statement by John Adams has become many educators’ mantra over the years:

“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain”.

Thank you,

Pasquale Tassone, Interim Performing Director

Arlington Public Schools