Educational Musings 2 of 2: For Arts Education

Here is the second poem that came to me during PD and listening about reading levels and scores and this and that. 

As I sit here
At teacher PD
I wonder what kind
Of teacher I'll be.

I really hate
How we now teach
To find creativity
Is quite a reach.

Tests, scores
Race to the Top
We have seemingly
The humanities have dropped.

I pity the child
Who wants to create
Cause a narrowing of soul
Seems to be his fate.

Arts programs are cut
By the scores each day
Self expression no longer
Seems to be the way.

Tests and programs
NCLB and NJ ASK
Are only concerned
With math and reading tasks.

Quickly we remove
All kinds of outlets
Of creativity for all
How we got here, we seem to forget.

Remember the great men
Aristotle and Plato
They taught great things
Thousand of years ago.

They taught people science
They taught them art
They taught religion
And doing their civic part.

They created great thinkers
And philosophers too
Actors and musicians
Poets and playwrights too.

They were great teachers
Who sculpted a mind
Thinking like that
You can no longer find.

We no longer care
About the whole kid
Both mind and soul
Like we once did.

The arts are more
Then just fun and games
They teach kids a lot
And creativity they tame.

They give an outlet
And lessons to learn
They increase test scores
So it's money not burned.

They increase reading
Mathematics too
They give students
Skills in all they do.

When I think of how
Each student we teach
Aristotle would shiver
And Socrates would cease.

This is not how
Education was meant
It's supposed to widen the mind
Not take a testing bent.