Mission Statement
The primary goal of education is to enable children to develop their minds and intellectual capabilities using all forms of creative intelligence as means for achieving this goal. The expressions of thoughts and feelings take many forms. Verbal and written language are only two of the forms that communicate these expressions. Art, music, dance and drama also communicate thoughts and feelings through visual forms, sounds, and movements.
The teaching of the arts and the humanities in our schools is essential to all of us. Andrew Haiskell, chairman, Presidential Committee on the arts and humanities For children to develop their mental capabilities and realize their fullest potential, they need to be exposed to many kinds of knowledge, to many ways of knowing their world and expressing their thoughts. If the development of some kinds of knowledge and ways of experiencing the world is neglected or ignored in school instruction, then a primary goal of education is only partially fulfilled.
All the arts – literary, performing, and visual – provide knowledge about the world and ways of experiencing it that contributes to an understanding that is unique and different from that gained through verbal and written language. Through experiences in art, theatre, music, and dance, children learn to express themselves in terms of their own ideas and feelings. All of the arts provide knowledge about the world. Because the arts convey knowledge and meaning that is not learned through the study of other subjects, they deserve to be a part of every child's education. Every civilization records important ideas and events in the arts.
Helen M. Smith, Coordinator of Secondary Art, Theatre, Dance
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