A Delicate Balance: Principles and Practices Of Promising Arts And Humanities Programs
Capanna concurs, "It is very important for kids to come into contact with adults who are experts, because kids get it on a visceral level that they are dealing with somebody who knows all there is to know about a particular area. Even if you are dealing with kids of very average ability, or even below average ability, when you put them in an art activity or a music lesson with a highly trained person who is at the top of the field, that communicates." Effective programs emphasize excellence.
It is also important to put children in frequent, direct contact with artists and scholars themselves. "Artists process their environment differently," explains Capanna. "When you put an artist in a teaching environment, they stay an artist. When you put a teacher in that environment and give them some art skills, they are a teacher with some art skills. And the kids know the difference."
The talent of children is never an issue in these programs. Effort is. "The kids may not have the ability to become what the teacher is, but when they work at their own level of ability, they do it with the same degree of concentration and commitment that their teacher demonstrates," confirms Capanna.
Effective programs provide quality staff and quality programming. Directors stressed the importance of quality programming and top-notch staff. They believe that economically disadvantaged children, like more affluent children, should have access to the best society has to offer. "The system says the good stuff is for Suzi, but the good stuff is not for Nadine. Victor's going to get to read The Odyssey, and Dawn is going to get to read we-don't-even-know-what because we don't read it ourselves. But the theory of our program is that everything good belongs to everyone," says Victor Swenson, executive director of the Vermont Council on the Humanities.