SOFA

SOFA  has created a survey directed at Fine Arts educators throughout Alberta to gain a better understanding of how educators are feeling about the current Fine Arts system in place within our K-12 schools in Alberta. SOFA is interested in finding out where Educators believe that the system is working, and perhaps, where improvements can be made.

With the announcement from Alberta Education’s curriculum manager Joan Engle that Alberta Education will be revising the first draft of the new proposed framework for Fine Arts Education in Alberta, with the new draft looking to be ready for the spring of 2011.

In order for us to be the most effective we can, we are seeking information from those that know the system best – you, the educators of the system.  We request that you take some time to fill out the filling survey so that SOFA can better understand what the arts educators feel.

The survey can be found HERE

Thank You!

Of the thousands of people who have now registered on our website, 482 of them have provided comments regarding the proposed changes to fine arts education.  Thank you very much for taking the time to passionately tell us how you feel about the proposed changes!

Because there are too many to post individually on our website (even though we tried to post them initially), we have downloaded all of their comments into a PDF document for you to view.

If any of the 482 registrants who wrote comments are concerned about their comment being posted, please send us an email to saveourfinearts@gmail.com and we will be happy to remove it.

WARNING:  Please note these comments are complete and unedited (swear words, names, and email addresses have been blacked out).  Several  comments contain graphic wording that you might find offensive.

If you are interested in what people have to say and you have time to read the 51 pages of comments from the 482 people who supplied them, CLICK HERE

I have a son who has been involved with Drama since he was in elementary, loves it and graduating 2010 in hopes of continuing this passion of his. His long term goal is to become a teacher and teach drama to the very tallented kids out there that need to be able to show there creative ability to the public and not on a piece of paper.

This is his future and I am sure the future of many of the children who are so involved. What happens now? Is he going to have to make a change in his future decision, because of cutbacks, NO let our kids continue to show there tallent, and ability.

The passion that our children have for the arts is incredible, It shows when they are on stage, singing, playing a musical instrument, creating pictures on paper. Please do not this away from our kids. For some this is their future.

Our SOFA Committee recently received the followng comment from someone who claims she is an educator in Alberta:

As an educator in Alberta, I believe the comments on your site are misinformed and extremly biased.  The curiculum has not yet been written, only a framework, so the succession of skills and “spiral learning” will be contained in that document.  I am suprised that your organization would be satified with a curiculum  that is 20 years old, difficult to teach at a lower level, and based on old educational principals.  It’s time for an update.

The following is our response to the above from Lyle Bennett, SOFA Co-chair:

Firstly, thank you for your response to our website.   We appreciate all comments and will post your email note on our website without your name attached.

Secondly, we have not said on any occasion that we are satisfied with the 20+ year old curriculum.  In fact, in a letter that I recently wrote to the Minister of Education I said, “It is positive that Alberta Education is doing an update of the K-12 Fine Arts Curriculum after 20+ years.  Change is not necessarily bad as long as it is respectful of the current programs that are working well and seeks to improve the quality of education of one of our most valuable resources, our children.” 

We have talked with literally hundreds of students, parents and fine arts teachers who are concerned about how this change will take place, but who for most part welcome the update as long as it does not “water down” the excellent programs that they are currently a part of.  For most of us, we are not averse to change. We simply want to make sure that we have a voice in managing this change so that we attain the best possible curriculum for all concerned.  We understand that the “framework” is the foundation of the curriculum and simply want to ensure the foundation is solid so that the resulting curriculum will be the best that in can be. 

Alberta Education has acknowleged that they need to re-write the framework based upon the input from us and others and we look forward to collaborating with them further as this process evolves.

Finally, if you wish to be more specific of where you think we are misinformed and biased we would be happy to discuss this further with you.

Again, thank you for your input.

 Best Regards,

Lyle Bennett
Concerned Parent, SOFA Co-Chair

The following letter was recently received from a concerned parent:

To Whom It May Concern:

I can’t imagine my oldest daughter, currently a 3^rd year fibre major at Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) gaining the required proficiency in drawing or other visual arts skills if she had had to start over as a beginner at the outset of every course throughout her junior and senior high school education. She possessed innate talent and gifting for the arts, for sure, but she credits what she began learning from teachers at École Elboya Junior High as the foundation for the rest of her public school learning. She achieved successive levels of experience, technique and training with each course she took from Grade 7 on, and then throughout her three years at Western Canada High School. She was accepted to ACAD based on the portfolio that her high school arts instructor helped her to populate and design.

So in the new Alberta Curriculum, everyone might get merely a taste of the arts, no one would be able to progress and fully develop their skills and techniques. On the surface, that sounds idyllic; in practice, nightmarish. A student would be unable to fit enough of the single topic modules into schedules already nearly full of basic courses required to graduate in order to get a well-balanced view of the arts.

The proposed Alberta Curriculum looks like a Continuing Ed calendar - ”Try your hand at Nuclear Physics!” What if we approached Language Arts that way? Learn your grammar and syntax every year! What an easy-to-develop curriculum – teachers will not have to anticipate a student’s growth or a student’s advanced skills. Let’s apply this formula to Math. With this kind of approach, students would never learn enough basic math to progress to Calculus if the schools kept offering only beginner-level arithmetic. Boy, would kids know how to add, though, by the time they graduated. Students will never get the chance to achieve proficiency in the arts if the Alberta Education is permitted to dumb down the curriculum this way. Only those who are driven to succeed in pursuing their craft or art in spite of Alberta Learning will emerge with any credible degree of skill.

Saves development time for teachers, certainly, there’s a cost saving. And furthermore, the teacher wouldn’t necessarily have to possess an arts background to teach it. So we produce fewer arts-literate high school graduates, and thin the arts applicants to post-secondary arts programs. Then the government could cut back funding to post-secondary arts programs. Then we have fewer teachers with the necessary depth of arts pedagogy. What a grim view of the future of the arts in Alberta.

But hey, we keep hearing how Alberta Learning values physical activity and education; so why don’t we open up all of the sports teams across the board to allow everyone who wants to play volleyball, basketball or football, regardless of skill level, to join the teams. Never mind our current system of inter-murals to encourage broader sports participation. Let’s just allow anyone who wants to play on the team.  Big team, lots of bench time, no pesky playoff schedules or costly awards – there wouldn’t be any achievement to celebrate. Save on afterschool facility and coaching costs. This is sounding just like the Alberta government’s foisting off recreational facility improvements to communities by the grants-on-a-stick, the same thing will happen to the arts. Only kids whose parents can afford and facilitate extra-curricular arts education will get a quality experience and the opportunity to pursue a vocation in the arts.

Ah, we have hit the nail on the head.  Love that Alberta Advantage

Respectfully
Heather T.

To Whom It May Concern,

I was hoping I would never have to type such a letter as this, but I see that the time has come that I feel it necessary to do so.

It concerns me that the government is even considering this change to fine arts programs in schools. The damage and disappointment that these proposed changes would cause would be nasty to say the least.

For the last 25+ years, I have seen first hand the value these programs have in our schools….actually, more than 25 years, as I too am a product of the Calgary Board of Education’s fine arts curriculum. The last 25+ years, I have been witness to the effect that fine arts have had on our students from the standpoint of a clinician/educator/tutor of countless students in both Public and Separate school boards province-wide.

I’ve also been witness to many students admitting to me that their motivation to come to school is mainly due to the fine arts programs, and yes, many have also admitted to me that if it weren’t for the fine arts programs, they would have dropped out.

You see, there are many valuable aspects fine arts programs in schools offer, that elected officials couldn’t possibly see from a government office or by reading a “study”. You couldn’t possibly know how much good these programs do unless you’ve seen and heard what I and my colleagues have. Funny, I’ve never seen students come out of math class with tears in there eyes and their heads held high because of such an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride like I have after a seemingly flawless concert or festival adjudication…..have you??

Not only do fine arts teach students to work together as a creative unit to set and accomplish goals and to interact effectively with others, it also teaches them what is likely the most important life lesson they’ll ever know…..what it feels like to be human. Why take that away from them??

It has been proven time and time again that fine arts students are more effective learners and better students all around…..wouldn’t the government want that??

I’ll close by quoting a conductor by the name of Dr. Eugene Corporon (North Texas State University)….someone that I worked with as a member of the 1984 Alberta Provincial High School Honour Band. Before performing our last selection he addressed the audience, and part of what he said has stuck with me all these years, and it still “rings true” for me and for countless other students over the past 25+ years as well…..I know because I’ve seen it first hand. He said, and I quote:

“Whether or not these young people go on to be professional musicians is irrelevant to the fact that they have had a special experience that has put them in touch with their soul more than anything else can.”

Why deny future students of that same experience??

Sincerely,
Pat Belliveau

(Professional Saxophonist, Artist/Clinician – Yamaha Canada Music Ltd.)
(Bishop Pinkham Jr. H.S. Music Dept. (Calgary Graduate 1982)
(Central Memorial H.S. Music Dept. (Calgary) Graduate 1985)
(BMus – University of Calgary 1996)

http://www.patbelliveau.com

I believe that currently there will be millions of dallars going into Arts and Cultures within the City of Calgary. Why would the government take away from Arts Education curriculum in our schools while at the same time promote vitually the same arts and cultures outside of our schools and within our communities? This does not make any sense. Am I wrong in assuming that this is the case?

I wonder if by calling 311 and talking to someone in the Arts and Cultures section of the The City of Calgary, that one wouldn’t find out more to this rumour? OR perhaps go online and acquire this information.

I am the parent of a Central Music Graduate who is pursuing post-secondary education in that field. I have another student in the PVA Drama program at Central in Grade 11. I am a practicing artist, art teacher and art volunteer…I work as many volunteer hours in the elementary school that my 2 younger children
attend as I can, teaching art and rounding out art curriculum when the teachers are not comfortable with its content and their abilities to communicate it. This is an incidence where generalists are scrambling to cover Fine Arts and it makes me very sad to think of what can happen in classrooms where the students have
limited access to Fine Arts learning. A favourite drama teacher of my son’s has been forced over the years to teach subjects outside her specialty for half of the day (and more!) She is discouraged and losing her passion for teaching because of what the system is imposing on her already. Our teachers need to do what
they do best – and more of it! Can schools not share Fine Arts Specialists? As for a learning system that requires prerequisites and a spiral approach to learning, I have seen my own children (and me!) develop in our own fields of passion in a way that builds on the experience that we continue to gain over time…spiralling
works! It builds confidence and technical expertise and prepares students to pursue their art professionally if they choose…and also fosters a deeper understanding and love of their field of interest! To modularize Fine Art courses will seriously impact this technical development for students who are deeply interested in a particular area of study…I could liken it to throwing a student who doesn’t know how to read music into the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (if I was prone to exaggeration …) Students need a full understanding of the fundamentals of the Fine Arts disciplines to become proficient, and those fundamentals are addressed ever subtly and in varying amounts of detail as students gain experience over the duration of their education.
The Fine Arts are not ‘icing’ options. They are essential means of communication for many types of students..they also keep many students who may not be interested in learning at school, so that they can pursue what they love…let them take it seriously…

I am a teacher and advocate for the value of a Fine Arts education. I teach drama, Advanced Acting, and Musical Theatre. My children both go to Vic because of the importance our family places on the Arts. My husband is an author, my daughter an actor with very good marks. My son is a full IB student, including IB Band. His average in school is hovering around the 95% mark. He can be anything he chooses to be and his first degree will be a music one. When we have talked about the difficulties involved in living the artist’s life, my son is adamant…”Mom, I know I am intelligent. That is why you have to believe me when I say: Music feeds my soul, nothing else can fill that void.” Before we found music for him, he was a AAA hockey player a second degree black belt, and still lost as a kid. I believe music has saved my son. If I can do anything, please let me know.

A concerned parent

I have a suggestion for something people can add to their letters to  MLA’s and MP’s and such.

Here’s the website http://www.thenewblackcentre.com/ right on the page it shows a  description of how the city denied and application for this after school music studio to be re-zoned.

I hope that this will be of help,

Cheers
Tyler W.

P.S.  The arts are a great way for people to express themselves. without the arts more kids would be involved in violence, drugs, and other crimes.  Without them, who knows how bad things will go