Should the Arts be Standardized?

No.

That should be the end of the argument. But unfortunately, it's not.

The entire concept of a subject area that emphasizes self expression and encourages outside the box thinking being assessed on standardized scales seems oxymoronic.

Are there benchmarks that students should reach as they develop as artists, musicians, or dancers? Absolutely. And there are standards that have been created both nationally and often locally that educators can use in their guidance of students.

But those educators should be free to utilize those standards in a way that best works for their students. There are huge disparities in the availability of arts education programs, and a one size fits all approach is the wrong direction.

The well-meaning argument is being made that this will help bring arts education to the level of emphasis as our non-arts counterparts then, therefore bringing equity to arts offerings. Is standardizing really the way we want to do that? Or is it simply the practical choice in an era of over-emphasis on the important of tests?

We're arts educators. How many of us chose this profession because of its practicality, and why on earth would we start being practical about our passion for art, music, theater, or dance now? What new creativity and thinking would we be quashing by telling students they don't meet the standard for their chosen art form?

Instead of shoving our way into a bad party serving only an alphabet soup of assessments (which many of our friends are desperately trying to leave), we need to fight for equal access to quality arts instruction for all students. Not because it helps them on other tests in other subjects; but because the arts have their own inherent worth that do not and should not need justification based on non-arts learning.

We do not need standardized assessments to legitimize the arts. To do so is an insult to the generations of people who have been creating art for beauty, worship, exploration, understanding, and expression for a very long time before we came along, and the generations who will continue to do so either with us or in spite of us.