On Monday, our Texas legislature began to chew on declining enrollment in arts classes among Texas schoolchildren. Author Dan Pink, in Austin to address the Texas Association of School Administrators, told a group of lawmakers that there is too much focus on routine and standardization and “getting the right answer,” and today’s schools are “preparing kids for my past rather than their future.” Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, (R-Plano), who hosted the session with Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, said it is too early to say how the Legislature might accomplish the goal of integrating fine arts and the core subjects, but that the first step will be a new accountability system, Shapiro said, “will give us the opportunity to utilize the fine arts as we have never done before.”
via Glasstire: Texas visual art online – With friends like these . . ..