Across the country, arts education seems to be of increasingly lesser value in today's school curriculum. And it's not just down South or in the fly-overs, much less California. No, one of the artistic hubs of the modern world--New York City--has been cutting corners on arts ed, too.
A report filed by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli last Tuesday revealed that out of 310 students who attended 166 public high schools from 2007 to 2011, between 46 and 64 percent of them graduated without ever meeting a minimum arts requirement.
Aside from the fact that New York City does, in fact, have a minimum arts requirement, the news still came as a shock to educators and officials alike.
"This high error rate indicates a notable risk that the affected New York City [Department of Education] high school students are not obtaining an arts education that complies with regulations. Therefore, those students may not be obtaining the benefits that research attributes to arts education," reads the report.
If the benefits of arts ed are manifold, in New York anyways, arts ed requirements are few.
As Hyperallergic duly notes, New York State only requires that students complete 108 hours (two semesters) of arts instruction by certified arts teachers using an Education Department-approved syllabus.
Given such paltry criteria, it makes the oversight all the more staggering.
DiNapoli's report revealed that out of 205 art teachers, 99 were uncertified, though they taught 28 percent of the curriculum.
Even worse? At 57 schools, some 90 students never even received a syllabus.
New York, New York...start spreading the news: The arts are important.
Read more: Arts Ed in California: A Detective Story
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