Letters to the Editors
Latin lives on
To the editors:
Ever since the takeover of Philadelphia public schools by the state, there has been a shrinking of the curriculum. Studies that were once considered essential for a balanced education, including the arts and foreign languages in the elementary schools, have gradually disappeared. Today the curriculum is limited, standardized and test-driven.
Only a few years ago, the School District won awards for a literacy program that incorporated Latin instruction in the elementary grades. Studies showed that children's language skills improved with exposure to the classical roots of English. But Latin was thrown out as soon as the School Reform Commission took over the schools.
Something is happening that could reverse that. The SRC just approved the installation of a charter high school for boys modeled after Boston Latin, where Latin will be required for four years.
As a retired teacher and Temple student teacher supervisor, I have been trying to keep Latin instruction alive in the schools through a pro bono class at the Dunbar School. On June 24th, four days after school was dismissed, four of my Latin students agreed to participate in a demonstration lesson at the American Classical League Institute taking place at Penn. They received a 90-minute lesson from Latin scholar Barbara Bell of the UK. It was a historic occasion.
It is gratifying to know that the SRC wants to experiment again with instructing high school boys in the classics. My suggestion to them is to restore Latin to the elementary schools from which it was snatched if they want to feed that program with able students.
Literacy is
not taught in a vacuum.
-Gloria C. Endres
The writer lives in South Philadelphia
and teaches at Temple University's College
of Education. Her email is sisglo@aol.com.
Don't forget dancing
To the editors:
Congratulations on the Summer 2006 issue of the Notebook focusing on arts and arts education in Philadelphia's public schools. The issue provided a wealth of information on a topic that receives too little analysis - despite the widely-held concern that our schools, by reducing arts programming, are depriving students of critical links to self-knowledge, self-expression, and communication with the world around them.
Yet I was disappointed to see that the topic of dance as a medium for arts education received only passing mention. There were many possible avenues for giving your readers a sense of the goldmine that dance education offers to schools and students.
You might have reported on some of the exemplary - although far too few - dance education programs in the Philadelphia schools, programs like the longstanding dance curriculum initiated by master teacher Faye Snow at the Franklin Learning Center, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project's school-based residencies led by master artists in African, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese and Cambodian dance. Or you might have explored the modest but growing body of research showing positive correlations between high-quality, standards-driven dance education and learning outcomes such as improved critical and creative thinking skills, greater ability to think fluidly and abstractly, improved student engagement and behavior, and richer and more diverse powers of expression. Or you might have identified stars of the dance world who began their artistic journey in the Philadelphia public schools (for example, the late Gary DeLoach, who gave up high school football to pursue dance at Franklin Learning Center and later became a principal dancer in the Alvin Ailey Company). Brief mention of difficulties attracting certified dance teachers (who must be certified in vocational education) might have been expanded.
My experience
(as a performing and teaching artist,
choreographer, former District administrator,
and long-time participant in local arts
and education initiatives) convinces me
that dance education offers rich, often
unique approaches to teaching young people
to understand the elements and uses of
culture, to develop capacities for teamwork,
constructive social interaction and leadership,
and to participate and rejoice in the
power and sheer beauty of artistic invention.
I hope that the Summer 2006 issue of the
Notebook will help raise the
volume and rigor of discussion of the
role of the arts in effective teaching
and learning, especially as hearings on
reauthorization of No Child Left Behind
commence. I also hope parents, students,
and educators grow in their appreciation
of the tremendous value that dance education
offers.
-Germaine Ingram
The writer lives in the Francisville area
of Philadelphia, is a professional tap
dancer and choreographer, and is a graduate
of the Philadelphia public schools.