Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985 Page: 30
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Program Analysis
The Status
/30 & ContentArt Programs
Sharon Gentry
and
D. Jack DavisX ith the impending changes in Texas
Education, we are in great need of in-
formation about art programs. To respond to
the many changes which are occurring in
Texas education today, particularly in the
arts at the middle/junior high school level,
we first need to know more about the status
and content of middle/junior high school art
programs.
While the data are old, the NEA study
(1963, p. 57) stated, "It has been estimated
that 85% of the nation's youth receive no in-
struction in art beyond the age of thirteen or
fourteen." Chapman (1982, p. 1) states that:Few citizens realize that 80 percent of
our nation's youth graduate from high
school with little or no instruction in the
arts. Most youngsters spend twelve
years in school, and during that time
receive about twelve thousand hours of
instruction but less than 1 percent of
this time is likely to ben spent in study-
ing the arts (except literature) with
a qualified teacher. The typical high
school graduate has a token education
in the arts. About ninety hours of in-
struction in the visual arts is normally
required-all of it compressed into a
single art course taken in the seventh
or the eighth grade.
Thus, it appears that a large percentage of
students receive their last formal art instruc-
tion in the junior high school. Therefore, the
middle/junior high school art program plays a
vital part in determining how students value
art for the rest of their lives. Research deal-
ing specifically with the status and content of
art programs at this level is almost non-
existent. The research that has been done is
most often included in a broader study which
includes the elementary and/or secondary
levels (Garton, 1978; Rose, 1959; NEA,
1963; Hastie and Templeton, 1964). The
most comprehensive survey of the status of
art and music in the United States was con-
ducted by the National Education Associa-
tion in 1963-more than twenty years ago.
The NEA study reported that 54% of the
schools offered art-97% of the large schools
(1,000 or more students), 70% of the me-
dium sized schools (300 to 999 students),
and 29% of the small schools (fewer than
300 students). The study further reported
that 57% of the art programs followed a
written curriculum usually prepared by the
local district rather than by the state. Two-thirds of the art programs were a succession
of general courses; twenty per cent had one
or more general courses followed by a num-
ber of independent courses in separate art
media; the rest of the art programs only of-
fered specialized courses. For grades seven
through nine, 90 per cent offered a general
art course. Large schools offered specialized
courses in grades seven through nine, mainly
in general crafts, drawing and painting, art
appreciation, ceramics and graphics.
Even more scarce than general, de-
scriptive information is systematic research
on the analysis of the content of art pro-
grams, specifically at the middle/junior high
school (Howlett, 1959; Dobbs, 1972; Beittel
and Mattil, 1961; Day, 1969; and Lahr,
1978). In order to determine the current
status and content of art programs in the
public schools, particularly at the middle/
junior high school level, additional studies are
needed. Such information is of even greater
importance today than it has been in the
past. With both the threats to and the oppor-
tunities for arts programs in the schools, the
need to have factual information for analysis
and justification of continuation of arts pro-
grams in the schools as well as the initiation
of new programs is essential. The paucity of
such information has limited us in speaking
with authority.
The middle/junior high school is an
often-neglected area in teacher training and
in the professional literature. Baker (1976)
found that studies dealing with curriculum
and issues in the elementary and senior high
schools outnumber those dealing with cur-
riculum and issues at the junior high school
level ten to one. The middle/junior high
school is often added to the end of the study
of elementary art education or prefaces the
study of art in the senior high. It needs to be
considered separately with its own distinct
qualities.
Early adolescence has characteristics
which need to be considered by the art
teacher. It is a time of self-doubt, inconsis-
tent behavior, physical changes and social
awareness. The middle/junior high school
student needs art experiences which will
build confidence; help express feelings and
thoughts; and assist in becoming a recog-
nized and valuable member of society.
There is evidence that some art pro-
grams are centered upon the process of do-
ing with little emphasis on thinking about
what is being done. Thus, the critical and
historical aspects of art need to be consid-
ered in addition to experiences which de-
velop their creative thinking. All studentsTRENDS / fall 1985
of Middle/Junior High
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Texas Art Education Association. Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985, periodical, Autumn 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279681/m1/32/?q=architectural+drawings: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Art Education Association.