This past Thursday marked the end of graduate student Betsy Ferrer’s art presentation in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities Art Studio above the Gallery at Snyder and Phillips halls, which featured works from different artists hailing from the greater Kisumu area, located in western Kenya.
The gallery displayed beautiful pieces ranging from still lifes to animal scenes to daily Kenyan life, which were being sold in hope of raising money for a new Kisumu art gallery for local artists to showcase their work. With my long standing appreciation for the arts, it’s been tough watching a nation as capable as ours let them slip away, but Betsy’s dedication to investing in Kisumu’s creative sector was a clear reminder to me that there’s hope yet.
As someone who coincidentally resided in Kisumu for the summer of 2012, where I was working on malaria and environmental projects, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by Betsy’s gallery project here at MSU. During my stint in Kenya I spent my free time exploring east Africa, during which I spoke with people from all walks of life, doing my best to understand the roots of their culture. I noticed there was an emphasis on music, crafts and visual arts, as in most “developing” communities.
Despite being thrilled for the city of Kisumu that there are people such as Betsy looking out for the art community’s best interests, I raise it as a counterpoint to what has been happening here in the U.S. for the past decade or so.
Since the stock market crash in 2007, due almost solely to U.S. financial sector greed and malpractice, public education has suffered billions in cuts, most of which have been targeted toward creative outlets while attempting to preserve the integrity of “necessary” subjects, such as math and science. It’s understandable that in this day and age, the more analytical subjects would appear to be the most important to push, but a well-rounded society can’t put all of its eggs in only a few educational baskets.
Having had the fortune of being raised in an affluent community with excellent schools and extracurricular options, I had the ability to dabble in many different subjects. There’s little doubt that each had their own influence on me — not just the “core” subjects. Athletics taught teamwork; English courses expanded my literary conscience; science and math courses taught me reason and understanding; journalism gave me valuable interviewing and writing skills; art and music courses gave me an outlet amid all the chaos to relax, focus and be myself, be it inside or outside of “the lines.” It’s exactly that diversity that administrators are beginning to miss dearly in student bodies today.
Focusing on Lansing as a comparative, I can honestly say I don’t believe the students growing up in the district now will graduate with the same abilities as those who graduated from the district a mere year or two ago. Last year alone, more than 80 positions were cut within the Lansing School District, the majority of which were art, music and gym teachers. In response to these cuts, 10-20 aids have been contracted to help traditional teachers incorporate these subjects into their daily activities. Yes, this is beneficial, but not near an adequate replacement. Further, after Michigan’s decision to become a “Right to Work” state, teachers are being forced into new contractual situations, which put them at a further disadvantage. Planning periods have been cut, classroom sizes have been increased, pay has decreased down to 2005 levels and now they’re expected to teach subjects that fall outside of their credentials.
Believe me when I say, as someone who has a parent who works as a middle school social studies teacher, this struggle is very real, and it merely continues to push people away from the profession and weaken our public education system as a whole.
For centuries, the arts have been a focal point for life, culture and celebration; yet in an era where we’ve become so focused on the bottom line and believe we’re being creative because our Instagram has “filter options,” we’ve seen the arts dragged through the mud and have done very little as a society to object. I pose the question, in an age where ADD runs rampant, should we cut the subjects that teachers openly admit help even their most restless students calm down? When obesity levels are at an all time high, should we be cutting physical fitness classes? Above all else, do we really want our society to consist of the same few types of single-minded individuals? As someone who appreciates the color in this world, I certainly hope not.
Betsy believes the creative sectors in a city as underfunded as Kisumu can be of value; I stand beside her in that effort, and I find it troubling that despite the bountiful resources the U.S. possesses, we don’t do the same. The time has come to realize that public education should not serve as a pathway that inevitably leads us toward a reproduced role in a struggling society; public education must be reestablished as an institution of growth for all types of minds, in hopes of developing individuals that will someday lead us to new great heights.
Sam Corden is an environmental studies senior. Reach him at cordensa@msu.edu.
