Two (More) Examples of How the Arts Can Help Conquer Poverty

Back in December, the Serious Discussion forum featured a posting called "Escaping the 'Surround of Force' " about a 1997 pilot program which helped young adults acquire knowledge of and appreciation for the humanities, with the goal of helping the students to cope with -- and perhaps eventually to break out of -- poverty in practical ways.

Just this past Sunday, The New York Daily News published two uplifting articles reporting on two programs which similarly focus on the arts. In both of these cases, children rather than young adults constitute the student population.

The first article describes a course that is "part therapy and part creative writing" at the Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation in East Harlem. Every Thursday at 7:30 a.m. a dozen ninth-graders eagerly begin a class in which they express themselves in verse.

Because of the recent educational emphasis on "data-driven accountability" and its inevitable goal of "accountability" through standardized tests, elective courses, such as creative writing, are often the first to be cut. Yet, as this article clearly shows, such classes have an extremely positive effect on the students not only in terms of the individuals' behavior and psychological development, but also academically.

The principal states that the poetry writing class reflects a "humanistic" view toward the students. "The more literate they are," says Nicholas Tishuk, "the more likely they are to read and do well in class. The more they are empowered, the more confident they are to tackle things that are difficult."

The students' original poems often provide the teachers with an opportunity to introduce lessons about "history, writing, and literature." For instance, one student quoted -- or "sampled"-- a line in his poem for which he didn't know the source. This enabled the teachers to assign a research project on a topic which may not have necessarily arisen during classes within the basic curriculum.

The second article tells of a program to be offered this coming fall by a church pastor in the Washington Heights section of northern Manhattan. "Known as 'el Sistema'--or 'the System,' it's about saving children who live in poverty by teaching them to play or sing classical music in a youth orchestra."

As the article describes the program, "The brainchild of economist and musician Jose Abreu, who started the first youth orchestra in 1975 in Venezuela, Sistema is essentially a social system that fights poverty."
The epigraph of this article is a statement from Abreu himself:
"From the minute a child is taught how to play an instrument, he's no longer poor. He becomes a child in progress, heading for a professional level, who'll later become a citizen."

At Our Savior's Atonement Lutheran Church, pastor Barrie Lawless has some "initial seed money," and hopes to raise enough to allow the program to be self-sustaining after the first year. The targeted date for launching the pilot program is October, "with 80 kids between the ages of 8 and 10 taking violin, cello, or percussion lessons from professional New York musicians.

The pastor stresses that this is not some kind of talent search in order to discover future "superstars." He says, "If we get some Leonard Bernsteins that's fine, but the main thing is we are trying to help children discover through music who they are, to believe in themselves, and to become complete people. We want to cross this [social-economic] drive uptown!" (That last statement sounds a lot like the philosophy of Earl Shorris, founder of the 1997 humanities project.)

The article concludes with an allusion by Pastor Barrie (as he's called) to a recent seminar on gang violence held in the same neighborhood as his church. "Every time someone goes to jail it costs us $210,000 a year to keep them there. El Sistema has the ability to transform children's lives and lift them out of poverty so they never end up there."

So, LitNetters, please read the two short articles whose links are below. Give us your opinions as to whether introducing poor children to the humanities can be a powerful weapon against poverty.


"It's the Right Thing to do at this School" by Meredith Kolodner
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...is_school.html


Music Program at Washington Heights church
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...poor_kids.html

I retweeted both. More than this, I sincerely wish you every success -- and I believe you'll have it.

You got me thinking about looking into starting something like that here in Greece. The almost non-existent funds for education over the last three decades have cut thousands of music, art and modern literature hours. We have become artless and as a result coarse, selfish and violent. Our impending national bankruptcy is much more than financial.

Keep us posted on how things progress, please!

Kind regards,
Chris

I wonder whether these educational initiatives support the proposition that Arts Can Help Conquer Poverty, or rather that inspired and committed teaching can. Simply adapting these programmes for national schooling, with many less than inspired teachers, is unlikely to yield such impressive results.

Thank you, Doc, for your positive comment, but yours fooly is not personally involved in any of the
three projects other than publicizing them in my
puny little way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gladys

I wonder whether these educational initiatives support the proposition that Arts Can Help Conquer Poverty, or rather that inspired and committed teaching can. Simply adapting these programmes for national schooling, with many less than inspired teachers, is unlikely to yield such impressive results.

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You're right about the teachers. That's why Earl Shorris (in the original Humanities project) tapped prestigious university professors to teach the various courses to the disadvantaged adults.

But the driving force of the 1997 program, as well as these two new projects in the Big Apple is foremost the creative character of the subject matter.

There seems to be a therapeutic aspect to the poetry for the kids in the video. It's clear that a person can't really begin to learn until they can deal with their own problems and make sense of them. Perhaps the Arts enbles the this alongside developing literacy, whereas something like science and maths is too cut and dried to faclitate this. (It may be that maths and science are not so cut and dried, but that the teaching methods employed don't allow a therapeutic element).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paulclem

There seems to be a therapeutic aspect to the poetry for the kids in the video. It's clear that a person can't really begin to learn until they can deal with their own problems and make sense of them. Perhaps the Arts enbles the this alongside developing literacy, whereas something like science and maths is too cut and dried to faclitate this. (It may be that maths and science are not so cut and dried, but that the teaching methods employed don't allow a therapeutic element).

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We who attempt to write "serious" poetry have come to realize that writing as "therapy" helps the writer herself or himself "feel" better psychologically, but doesn't --necessarily-- produce a good poem. Similarly, the notorious "self-esteem building" philosophy in the Am. educational system seems to have backfired: the more naive products of this approach are completely asea when they enter the workplace and find that they are no longer constantly stroked with positive feedback; other former students are savvy enough to see the a priori reward system for the sham it is.

Nevertheless, what's good about the poetry class-- from what I can gather from the article-- is giving them an opportunity to deal with the personal problems, and then move on.

Instead of being patting on the back just for showing up, the students find that the school respects them through --and this is key!-- high expectations. Apparently, the students do "share their feelings" in the creative writing which their emotions inspire. In the process, though, the students are inspired to learn more about poetry, literature, and the world in general; in other words, ultimately the class is not just about the "self" but also the "expression" and knowledge --both of which, presumably, will improve with more reading and more learning.