The Art Education System

 Every student deserves a well-rounded education. Yet select schools are either cutting the arts program, which includes an art class and or music because, to the school board, it is seen as unnecessary. Schools should realize the importance of arts programs, and have them be as important as any other course.  

                     Art programs are crucial to the learning process. It exercises the generic skills needed for students to grow. In Richard J. Deasy’s writing of "Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development." He states that there are learning qualities attributed to art such as teamwork, concentration, and sometimes even improve confidence. To students who take these classes seriously, it improves motivation also.

            Then in the article “Prediction: Identifying Potential Dropouts.”, written by the Center for Public Education, it declares that students, who don’t take art, or art related classes, seriously are this way mostly because of their teachers may not be qualified enough, therefore the subject isn’t as enforced as it should be. There are under-qualified teachers because the school system doesn’t want to invest as much money into art education. As a result, students are less interested in the subject, and giving administration and the school board less of a reason to fund and support the art program.

            Schools realize that art is important, but cuts are being made because of tight budgets. There are statistics and countless evidence that art is necessary for developmental growth, and schools are aware of it, but not enough to keep the program. This is supported by the National Art Education Association in an article published as, “Two Opportunities for Input on the Role of Arts in Early Childhood.”

                       Most schools, especially from the grades kindergarten through eighth grade, see art as nonessential, until a student wants to peruse art as a career. Then it becomes more focused on in high school, but not always.In Fran Smith’s article “Why Arts Education is Crucial and Who’s Doing it Best”, it states that privileged children are more exposed to art within their family, compared to underprivileged who lack that experience within their home because of financial challenges. 

                       As children first experience the education system either in preschool or kindergarten and build their way up to high school, then in most cases college, art education is poorly distributed equally and thoroughly along that journey. It is essential to call attention to the position of art in the education system. School systems need to notice this, but nothing will happen unless there are petitions, or one directly calls out to a school board administrator. As sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz has once said “Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence.”

Emma Watson; He For She

         Think about these words, airmen, stewardess, nurse and hairdresser. Did you automatically put one gender to these words? This is considered feminist. Feminism can be a very controversial word, although recently, the famously known Emma Watson is redefining it. She, being the United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador, on the 20^th of September gave an extremely convincing argument on how feminism is seen. She has been promoting men to support women’s equality. Yet most importantly, Emma stands for the acceptance of feminism in her rediscovered meaning of the word in her statement, “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”
         There has been much controversy on the movement Emma started, and it is how companies or organizations go about promoting such a purely genuine movement without polluting the true meaning that creates such a controversy.
Corporations either loathe it or love it. Time magazine promoted an article written by Cathy Young, a Reason magazine editor, stated, “Until feminism recognizes discrimination against men, the movement for gender equality will be incomplete.” She believes Emma, “Says nothing about problems affecting men and boys.” When Emma explicitly states in her speech, “When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.” The statement was proved null and void within Emma’s speech and when Elle magazine decided to manufacture t-shirts that say, “This is what a feminist looks like.”     
          A writer of an online news source, Tansy Hoskins, wrote an article about Elle’s t-shirts based on Emma’s movement, called, “The Feminist T-shirt scandal exposes an entire system of exploitation.” The article expands on how Elle is, “Using feminism for consumerism”, and how they should be worried about women working in a sweatshop making these shirts for 62 pence an hour in Mauritius, a small island near Madagascar.
          Writer for People magazine, Tim Nudd, is in favor of Emma’s speech. He names a list of famous men on twitter who promote Emma’s movement #HeForShe. One of the men listed is Joseph Gordon Levitt, famously known for many acting roles, such as a Gotham cop named Blake in “The Dark Knight Rises”. He tweets “Join the conversation RE: #Feminism for our TV show. I consider myself a Feminist - what about you? WATCH: http://bit.ly/1si2FWB” and attaches a link for a show he created called HitRecord, which is a series of videos submitted by viewers answering a question, idea, or topic presented by Joseph. In this tweet, he asks his viewers to talk about their idea of feminism, good or bad. He explains that he is a feminist, because his mother, who was involved in the second feminist movement, suffrage being the first, explained that feminism is when one believes that men and women should be treated equally, and that being the opposite sex shouldn’t limit ones experiences, opportunities, or pay salary. This example of Emma’s He for She support is in favor of her campaign because it is a genuine message of encouragement and opinion.
          Essentially, this is a controversial issue that has been widely discussed, but gone about broadcasting its ideals in the wrong way. The campaign has had an impact in society,  and although most company’s execution to publicize this idea has defeated the purpose of the campaign, there can be genuine speakers who are earnestly showing support for a greater cause.

Shutter Island

             Martin Scorsese directs a psychological thriller, and in the suspenseful motion picture, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the main character, Teddy Daniels or Marshall. Upon arrival to the famous Ashecliffe, a renowned high security prison for the criminally insane. Daniels is introduced to his new partner, Chuck Aule, cleverly played by Mark Ruffalo. They embark on a quest to uncover the mystery of a missing patient, Rachel Solando. As the two detectives work with Dr.Cawly, played by Ben Kingsley, who is the owner of Ashecliffe to find clues, Daniels finds himself questioning authority. He also becomes increasingly leery of his surroundings. As flashbacks become more frequent, he struggles to hold onto what is true when lines between the sane and insane are blurred. The film brilliantly portrays scenes in sophisticated ways with many underlying meanings.

What hooks the audience initially are the minute abnormalities that are first presented. Such as the strikingly uncoordinated tie that Teddy Daniels wears within the first scene. It provokes the question, “What would make a man wear such an ugly tie?” It automatically persuades the audience to pay close attention to other similar cues, seen and unseen, that are out of place. As these clues build upon themselves, it slowly reveals the essential theme of the story.

The musical score adds suspense, sophistication and a hint of lunacy. All of these elements add to the description of Daniels character and the moment of the scene. It is excitingly contradicting when opera music plays during one of Daniels military flashbacks. A soothing opera score becomes a chill of goose bumps. It perfectly personifies the scene to take the audience out of their comfort zone and experience Daniels split sanity between reality and imaginary.

All throughout the film, the theme of betrayal becomes closer involved with isolation. Characters around Daniel who initially could never have been seen as trustworthy become Daniel’s source of truth, and visa versa. Unexpected turns in these changing relationships lead the audience into multiple unforeseen plot twists.

Overall, this film is a memorable psychological thriller of its time. It never leaves the viewer in a dull moment. Every second contains details so curtail, it is almost necessary to watch twice to catch them. And the end, left to the audience to determine which end of the spectrum reveals its true meaning, Daniels tells his partner, “Would you rather live the rest of your life a monster, or die a good man?”

Kings and Queens of the Court

At Bridgewater Sate University’s Tinsly Gymnasium, it was a close call when one intramural volleyball team in particular almost thought they wouldn’t make it to the next round, until they rallied their points back in the last few minutes and won the game.

            “Before the game started I could see that the freshman volleyball team was intimidated by the upperclassmen team.” Reports the referee. When asked why he thought so, he adds, “It was obvious when the freshmen team were more huddled together and strategizing, while the upper classmen team were peppering the ball and warming up.”

Team Captain of the winning freshman volleyball team, Jamie, reports, “After we missed our first couple of serves, you could see the tension and our nerves getting to us.”

            The opposing team’s middle hitter added, “Because we were given the ball so many times, we could afford a few mistakes and still recover. We had a good momentum going.”

            The freshmen team stated that it didn’t turn around until the score was 16 for freshmen and 19 for the upperclassmen. “That’s when Kaley, being as awesome as she is, aced three of her serves” says Emily, the outside hitter for the freshmen team. “From then on we didn’t let the other team score again”

            “The second game against the upperclassmen was different.” Jamie tells the reporter. “We knew we had our A game going, and nothing could stop us. We worked so hard in the second game, but it was so worth it!”

            Zac, the middle hitter on the freshmen team, added, “It’s as if someone flipped a switch, and the upperclassmen weren’t ruling the court anymore.”

            “We’ve got a tough team. When we know it’s getting rough out there, we try to get the spirits up and help each other out if we miss a serve or a volley.” Then Jamie adds, “Most importantly, we’ve got each other’s backs, and we don’t point fingers when the score is down.”

Typography, it's Important!

As you’re reading this sentence right now, every word and letter is an example of typography. Typography is not a commonly known term. It essentially is the style and appearance of print, which includes arranging type in certain esthetically pleasing ways.

            What’s so important about typography? Font types and letter structures do not strike readers before the content of the actual text normally, which is its purpose. “If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the wrong shape. The spoon and the letter are tools; one to take food from the bowl, the other to take information off the page…when it is a good design, the reader has to feel comfortable because the letter is both banal and beautiful.” Explains Typographer, Adrian Frutiger.

It is meant to allow a reader to absorb the text without being distracted by how it’s written.

            Right now, this particular font, with this particular type style, influences the reader to feel that this writing must be educational and intriguing. Different types of typography persuade the reader to feel certain ways about what they are reading. In an experiment done by Kevin Larson and Rosalin Picard, they proved just that. Out of twenty participants, they gave half of them poor typography, and the other half good typography. Given twenty minutes to read the passage, one test group of participants were interrupted fifteen minutes through, and were asked how long they were reading for. The other test group was interrupted at seventeen minutes and asked the same question. Participants given good typography thought that they had been reading for an average of twelve minutes, both were interrupted after fifteen and seventeen minutes. Unlike participants given bad typography, who assumed a longer amount of time had passed while reading their passage. This experiment proves that the readers with good typography were more engaged in their text.

It is important to be engaged in the text, especially where readers spend most of their time being engaged. Computer fonts are the most common form of typography people encounter. It wasn’t too popular to have fonts until Steve Jobs created the first Macintosh computer. At Reed College, he had taken a calligraphy class, one of the best in the country, and never imagined its beneficial use in the future. He created beautiful typography for Macintosh fonts and since has made an impact on the elegance of fonts on computers. “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.” Simply put by Jobs at a commencement speech at Stanford in 2005.