Should GCSE Art be compulsory?
https://www.tes.co.uk/news/school-news/breaking-news/mike-leigh-blasts-‘totally-illogical’-arts-provision
Art should be compulsory for students up to the age of 16 in order to restore its place as a “core” subject and prevent it from being regarded as an “indulgence”, according to award-winning film director Mike Leigh.
He warned that art, and drawing in particular, had been relegated to little more than a “marginal, minority, specialist” subject in schools.
Leigh, who directed hit films such as Secrets and Lies and Mr Turner, is the latest figure to argue for the arts to be given greater prominence in the curriculum. Last year, half the 172 schools surveyed by the National Society for Education in Art and Design said they had experienced cuts to arts provision as a result of greater focus being placed on English Baccalaureate subjects.
Earlier this year, a commission led by the University of Warwick warned that the arts were being “squeezed out” of schools and that pupils from low-income families were the worst affected. It recommended that an arts or media subject should be included in the EBac.
The Oscar-nominated director made the comments last week at an awards ceremony for schools, community groups and museums that had taken part in the Big Draw international festival of drawing. Speaking after the event Leigh told TES the idea that artists should be regarded as a “privileged group” was “ridiculous”.
“Art should be a core subject of all subjects, like English is, but even more so,” he said.
Would you be happy if Art was compulsory in your school?
Art should be compulsory for students up to the age of 16 in order to restore its place as a “core” subject and prevent it from being regarded as an “indulgence”, according to award-winning film director Mike Leigh.
He warned that art, and drawing in particular, had been relegated to little more than a “marginal, minority, specialist” subject in schools.
Leigh, who directed hit films such as Secrets and Lies and Mr Turner, is the latest figure to argue for the arts to be given greater prominence in the curriculum. Last year, half the 172 schools surveyed by the National Society for Education in Art and Design said they had experienced cuts to arts provision as a result of greater focus being placed on English Baccalaureate subjects.
Earlier this year, a commission led by the University of Warwick warned that the arts were being “squeezed out” of schools and that pupils from low-income families were the worst affected. It recommended that an arts or media subject should be included in the EBac.
The Oscar-nominated director made the comments last week at an awards ceremony for schools, community groups and museums that had taken part in the Big Draw international festival of drawing. Speaking after the event Leigh told TES the idea that artists should be regarded as a “privileged group” was “ridiculous”.
“Art should be a core subject of all subjects, like English is, but even more so,” he said.
Would you be happy if Art was compulsory in your school?
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If art was compulsory up to 16 when I was in school I know for a fact I would have failed. Some people just arent good at it and itd be better to teach those who want to be there and are good at it.
No? Its not fair on people's results at all. Say someone us able to achieve 10a* because they are academically able enough, how happy are they goung to be to ruin a clean sheet of results because they got a C in a subject that tests your creativity and js something not relevant to their life
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Original post by GeorgeCB95
If art was compulsory up to 16 when I was in school I know for a fact I would have failed. Some people just arent good at it and itd be better to teach those who want to be there and are good at it.
Original post by chumaniward
No? Its not fair on people's results at all. Say someone us able to achieve 10a* because they are academically able enough, how happy are they goung to be to ruin a clean sheet of results because they got a C in a subject that tests your creativity and js something not relevant to their life
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Do you not think that, if they put the same amount of effort into Art as in, say, Maths, that they could be taught how to become good at it and hence succeed in the exams?
i would have failed if i had to do art at gcse, creativity and the ability to draw which i do not have due to many reasons including my disability couldnt be taught to me.
Original post by Nirgilis
Do you not think that, if they put the same amount of effort into Art as in, say, Maths, that they could be taught how to become good at it and hence succeed in the exams?
To be fair, my school did try to help those who struggled in art but we didnt get that much better, well I didnt anyway. I think my final grade in Year 9 went from a high E to a low D.
Although I see your point in them putting in as much effort as in Maths, I was AWFUL at Maths. I did the exam 9 times to get a C grade, which I did get but it was 1 mark in.
Hell no!
Gcse art was the biggest mistake of my life
I have NO idea why I took it.
People will SUFFER
Gcse art was the biggest mistake of my life
I have NO idea why I took it.
People will SUFFER
(edited 8 years ago)
God know some of us just can't learn to draw properly and it's largely an irrelevance in importance in relation to maths and English (teachers really overstate the importance of these aswell) so no I don't want it to be compulsory
You could argue that creative people have to take academic subjects, so why not make academic people take creative subjects? Honestly no, art shouldn't be compulsory. It's like making Drama or music compulsory. There would be a riot
Original post by Nirgilis
https://www.tes.co.uk/news/school-news/breaking-news/mike-leigh-blasts-‘totally-illogical’-arts-provision
Art should be compulsory for students up to the age of 16 in order to restore its place as a “core” subject and prevent it from being regarded as an “indulgence”, according to award-winning film director Mike Leigh.
He warned that art, and drawing in particular, had been relegated to little more than a “marginal, minority, specialist” subject in schools.
Leigh, who directed hit films such as Secrets and Lies and Mr Turner, is the latest figure to argue for the arts to be given greater prominence in the curriculum. Last year, half the 172 schools surveyed by the National Society for Education in Art and Design said they had experienced cuts to arts provision as a result of greater focus being placed on English Baccalaureate subjects.
Earlier this year, a commission led by the University of Warwick warned that the arts were being “squeezed out” of schools and that pupils from low-income families were the worst affected. It recommended that an arts or media subject should be included in the EBac.
The Oscar-nominated director made the comments last week at an awards ceremony for schools, community groups and museums that had taken part in the Big Draw international festival of drawing. Speaking after the event Leigh told TES the idea that artists should be regarded as a “privileged group” was “ridiculous”.
“Art should be a core subject of all subjects, like English is, but even more so,” he said.
Would you be happy if Art was compulsory in your school?
Art should be compulsory for students up to the age of 16 in order to restore its place as a “core” subject and prevent it from being regarded as an “indulgence”, according to award-winning film director Mike Leigh.
He warned that art, and drawing in particular, had been relegated to little more than a “marginal, minority, specialist” subject in schools.
Leigh, who directed hit films such as Secrets and Lies and Mr Turner, is the latest figure to argue for the arts to be given greater prominence in the curriculum. Last year, half the 172 schools surveyed by the National Society for Education in Art and Design said they had experienced cuts to arts provision as a result of greater focus being placed on English Baccalaureate subjects.
Earlier this year, a commission led by the University of Warwick warned that the arts were being “squeezed out” of schools and that pupils from low-income families were the worst affected. It recommended that an arts or media subject should be included in the EBac.
The Oscar-nominated director made the comments last week at an awards ceremony for schools, community groups and museums that had taken part in the Big Draw international festival of drawing. Speaking after the event Leigh told TES the idea that artists should be regarded as a “privileged group” was “ridiculous”.
“Art should be a core subject of all subjects, like English is, but even more so,” he said.
Would you be happy if Art was compulsory in your school?
I do not belive it should be compulsory. As someone who is achieving A*'s in art it is easy to see that others who picked the subject really hate it and would rather of picked something else. A lot of my friends who haven't picked art strongly believe that not picking art GCSE was the right thing to do.
Original post by neal95
God know some of us just can't learn to draw properly and it's largely an irrelevance in importance in relation to maths and English (teachers really overstate the importance of these aswell) so no I don't want it to be compulsory
Exactly, you can learn equations in Maths and you can learn English terminology but chances are if you can't draw well than the Art dept at the school would immediately give up on you.
What a ridiculous idea. The story doesn't say why it should be a core subject. Schools already have enough teaching to do that this would just increase the workload on their limited staff and facilities. One could also perhaps argue that art adds little to an individual's functioning skills; either way those who wish to study it at school can choose it as an option or pursue it as a hobby.
Original post by Nirgilis
Do you not think that, if they put the same amount of effort into Art as in, say, Maths, that they could be taught how to become good at it and hence succeed in the exams?
The amount of effort that would have to be put in to improve meaningless (unless you want to pursue a creative subject, in which you select it as a non compulsory option) art skills would be detrimental towards other really important subjects that are actually necrssary
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No because art is honestly such a hard gcse due to the amounts of coursework, this would cause people to drop in their other subjects or may put them off taking other heavily coursework based subjects which they may really want to take. Also, creativity is what sets artists apart and if we all have it instilled into us in a militant manner, art will be devalued
No. Just no. Art is probably the most pretentious thing around, there is no skill involved in slapping some paint on some canvas whatsoever. Being good at art shows nothing to employers, unless you want to be an artist. Making it a 'core' subject would be a desperately poor decision. For most students, a GCSE in art would be as useful as a chocalate teapot. So many would get crap grades because there would be no incentive to do well, plus the effort required is immense.
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i did art gcse and i dont think it should be compulsory. although i like art and wanted to pursue a career in art, its not essential in life in my honest opinion, especially if the student doesnt enjoy it/doesnt feel like theyre good at it, even if boards emphasise on 'quantity, not quality'. instead of making art compulsory, i'd rather schools start teaching students more about things like mortgages/money-related topics because a lot of people my age including myself (im 18) still have difficulty understanding the conditions and rules of finance etc. not good when you're 4 months away from living by yourself!
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