Since the dawn of time, human imagination has resulted in creating extensions of self (that is, tools) as a means to overcome obstacles produced by genetic limits. Whether the tool extends thought or sense; whether the tool is organic, such as language, or inorganic; and whether electronic, digital, or analog, the artist plies the science or…

Numerous incidents have been reported in recent years wherein a work of art is mistaken as trash. The question is, how have people reached the point in the civilized world where a purported work of art cannot be distinguished from a pile of rubbish or a grid of condensation pipes? The answer to that question lies in the basic assumption of nearly…

This article draws attention to three important aesthetic ideas--ideas which have become, in the early twenty-first century, so widely endorsed in Western culture that they have become the stock platform of much theorizing and teaching about our experience of art and its relation to the rest of life. All of these ideas sprang from Beat thought in…

An aesthetically educated person may be understood to subscribe to values and possess dispositions that in important respects are distinctive. The respects in which such values and dispositions are unique and the methods by which they might be developed are, however, subject to interpretation. This article provides brief summaries of three…

In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual culture studies (VCS) constitute a deeply disturbing educational trend. She asserts that, much like the now largely discredited developments in literary studies of recent decades (whose bankruptcy it apparently ignores), this movement aims quite…

Aesthetics is the philosophy of art (including poetry and literature), and philosophy can be defined as a way of reflecting and clarifying ordinary, everyday thoughts and feelings that people find hard to put into words. One such ordinary thought is the well-known fact that words have a larger, more expansive meaning in poetry than they do in…

Discusses the concept of quality in art from the standpoint of the theory of mediation. Traces the idea of quality from Aristotelian criticism to Gagnepain's theory of mediation. Concludes that mediation aesthetics seek inspiration and quality only from the art work, not its contemporary meaning. (CFR)

At present, there appear to be only two prerequisites for entry into a music teacher education program at most institutions: a minimum academic grade point average and sufficient musical competence to be admitted to the school of music. These seem overly minimal, and serious suggestions have been made regarding additional essential requirements.…

Introduces a six-article symposium on interdisciplinary art education. Maintains that the specialization of modern societies presents a barrier between the arts and an interdisciplinary approach to arts education. Previews five articles that follow in the symposium. (CFR)

Maintains that, in recent years, schools and school districts have begun to explore an integrated curriculum approach to arts education. Discusses three areas of concern related to the arts as disciplines and the arts presented through an interdisciplinary approach. Calls for explicit policy directives to provide guidance. (CFR)

Discusses two related dilemmas: (1) the tension between the Western view of historical progress and the realities of modern society; and (2) the tension between old and new approaches to teaching and learning about the arts. Argues that the end result of implementing the Goals 2000 program might diminish the teaching of the arts as discrete…

Maintains that educational theorists have long advocated integrated, multidisciplinary curriculum development and instruction. Argues that the arts must maintain their integrity in the curriculum and be taught for their own sake, rather than serving as aids to instruction in other disciplines. (CFR)

Asserts that the general educational curriculum tends to be fragmented and compartmentalized and that this situation would be improved by curriculum integration. Argues that an interdisciplinary arts approach would require new teacher attitudes and instructional strategies. (CFR)