RETHINK IT ALL
EARTH FOCUS
Al o ng wi th hi gh p ressure an d ex pec t at io ns to ac hieve, o f tenteac her s are pu t u nder h i g h s t re ss to have th eir st udent s do well intheexam s. This c an l ead teac her s to “c heating t h e te s t. M a ny te a c he r u nio n s h ave t r ied to f ight this, arg u ing that this c an pu t an im m ens e a m o unt o f u n ne e de d pressure o n b o t h t h e st af f and the s tu dents. This res u l ts in s tu dents pl a c i n g greate r e mpha s is o n t h e grade rat h er than the l ear ning pro ces s. A way by whi c h educat io n may prevent s u c h s tres s is thro u g h c reative ar t s k il l s. I t ha s b e e n p rove n that ar t sk ills in educat io n h ave a s ignif ic ant ef fec t o n the ac adem ic and s o ci a l s uc ces s of the s tu dent s. Ar t sk ills such as draw ing, pl ay ing an ins tr u m ent, painting and d a n c i n g he l p wi th s tre s s relief an d can o pen t he do o r to po s itive s tres s m anag em ent. Tho s e w h o s ay t hat the a r t s k i ll s can rest r ic t st udent s f ro m “co re” s u bj ec ts are indeed inco r rec t! Us i n g d at a s u b mi tte d by the st ate’s p ublic sch o o ls, the M is s o u r i D epar tm ent o f Edu c atio n has s h ow n t h at t ho se wi th be tter par t icip at io n in creative s k il l s are m o re l ik el y to co m e to c l as s, avo i d b e i n g exc l ude d a nd wo uld go o n to b eco me a gradu ate. Additio nal l y, they dem o ns trated h i g h e r p ro fi ci enc y i n m ath emat ics an d co mmun ic atio n. ar ts edu c atio n has a s ignif ic ant ef fec t o n t h e a c a de m i c and s ocial success o f t h e st udents.
Whil e in the pas t, dec is io ns over the co n du c t o f the edu c atio nal s ys tem s in s c h o o l s were l im ited to the dec is io n o f the g ove r n m ents. S ince the ever- grow ing pres e n ce o f the s tu dent bo dy in m ak ing cer tain d e c i s i o n s is beco m ing a real it y, it is now tim e fo r t h e yo u ng er g eneratio n to beco m e pro ac t i ve a n d vo ice their o pinio ns. I f yo u feel l ik e m a k i n g a co ntr ibu tio n to the devel o pm ent o f yo ur s c ho o l ’s edu c atio n s ys tem reg arding ce r t a i n feas ibl e as pec ts (s u c h as teac hing me t h o d s ) , it wo u l d be ideal to g et in to u c h w ith yo ur teac her s o r s c ho o l adm inis trato r s th ro ug h e -m ail o r even tak e par t in co nver s at i o n s w i t h the s tu dent co u nc il repres entatives ( i f yo ur s c ho o l has any ) to m ak e hel pf u l recom m e n datio ns to teac her s o n how to im prove t h e l ear ning exper ience.
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