Every child should have a dream for their future. Not knowing who or what we want will lead us
to becoming someone and something we never wanted to be. As parent or as an educator the
greatest gift we give children is the belief that if they work hard they can be anything they want to
be in life. Of course, we all struggle at times to figure out just what it is we want out of life.
A brighter future starts with a quality education and giving children everywhere the tools and support
they need to find success in school and in life. America is understood to be the home of possibility.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 65 per cent of children today will end up in careers that
don’t even exist yet and for which schools are not preparing them. Unfortunately, our school system
is built on a model more linked to the industrial age, than the digital/technological age.
Two education entrepreneurs Kanya Balakrishna and Andrew Mangino launched a website called
the Future Project to reach 50 million students across the country they say are at risk of never
discovering their full potential. Their focus is to encourage kids to dream. They believe that
dreams inspire learning – “not the sort of rote, superficial lear ning that will help students pass
state standardized tests” but rather “real learning that inspires deep, meaningful, life-changing
mastery and purpose.” This kind of learning, they believe, will inspire “positive change both for the
individual and their community.” It is an intriguing idea that deserves discussion.
Educator Sean Hampton-Cole offered up that he had a “dream that within our lifetimes, personal
enrichment, critical analysis, creative output and purposeful problem-solving will be considered
at least as important as factual recall in education.” We need art and music in our culture.
Unfortunately, we are neglecting those subjects in our schools. President Ronald Reagan struck a
similar note in speaking about the humanities in 1987: “The humanities teach us who we are and
what we can be,” he said. “They lie at the very core of the culture of which we’re a part, and they
provide the foundation from which we may reach out to other cultures. The arts are among our
nation’s finest creations and the reflection of freedom’s light.”
Art and music programs are likely to be among the first victims of budget cuts in financially-stretched
school districts already fighting to meet other academic demands, and
they are rarely restored. The College Board found that students who take
four years of arts and music classes while in high school score 95 points
better on their SAT exams than students who took only a half year or less
(scores averaged 1061 among students in arts educations compared to
966 for students without arts education). It is important for policymakers
to understand that art, music, and literature improve problem-solving
and critical-thinking skills.
DR