DOCUMENT RESUME ED 378 109 SO 024 640 AUTHOR Richmond, John W. Arts Education as Equal Educational Opportunity: The TITLE Evolution of a Concept. PUB DATE 91 NOTE 9p. AVAILABLE FROM Florida Music Educators Association, 207 Office Plaza Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32301. PUB TYPE Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT Research Perspectives in Music Education: A Journal of the Florida Music Educators Association; n2 p9-15 Fall 1991 DRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Art Education; Educational Legislation; Elementary Secondary Education; *Equal Education; Fine Arts; *Music Education ABSTRACT This essay addresses the ethical justification for arts education as a component of equal education. The paper traces evolution of equal education opportunity ideas in general and specifically as equal opportunity for arts education. While it is currently considered inequitable to provide an arts education to some and deny it or provide it in disparate terms to others, several definitions of equity are possible. Policymakers requiring some standard by which to determine whether differences in arts education constitute disparity, may look to standards employed by legal courts. Of nine definitions of equal education, presented by Arthur E. Wise in 1967, the Negative Definition that indicates that educational opportunity exists when it is not dependent upon parental economic status or place of residence, is one most likely to be upheld in litigation. Another definition that has an impact on the education of the arts is The Full Opportunity Definition, which requires that all students be developed to the limits of their ability. The Foundations and Minimum Attainment definitions provide the least support for arts education as the former measures dollars spent, while the latter places an achievement ceiling on students. The Leveling Definition requires that the greatest instructional resources and attention be directed to the least able. This contrasts with the Deserving Definition that allocates resources in dii'ct proportion to the students' ability. Other definitions include: The Equal Dollars per Pupil Definition, The Maximum Variance Ration Definition, both of which allow a range of deviation from exact equality of expenditure; and The Classification Definition that requires suitable programs for students of specified characteristics, and availability of those programs to every student with corresponding characteristics. Alternate proposals by John W. Wick call for a sincere attempt to avoid imposing educational plans on students without careful regard for their entry skills, abilities, and needs; and indicates that quality is measured by outcomes. As educational resources become limited, arts education will need to understand the range of implications these competitive equal opportunities standards present to the field. A summary of these implications concludes the essay. Contains 31 references. (MM) 0) O ri- co Arts Education as Equal Educational Opportunity: The Evolution of a Concept EDUCATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF Improvement °eve of Education) Research and INFORMATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES CENTER (ERIC) reProduCed as itTnts document has been Orgenashon meowed from the pers00 Or Originating it made 10 improve O Minor changes have been teprOduCtion Quality th:sdocu. Points of ...tee, or opinions stated m represent &hotel merit do not necessarily OE RI combos or oacy THIS PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE GRANTED BY MATERIAL HAS BEEN LL ti() 114,- RESOURCES TO THE EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI. 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Arts Education as Equal Educational Opportunity: The Evolution of a Concept By John W. Richmond, School of Music, University of South Florida, Tampa Abstract This essay considers the evolution of the concept of equal educational opportunity for arts education. The discussion includes a review of the evolution of the idea for education generally, its evolution for arts education, the modern meanings of equal educational opportunity, and its implications for arts education practice and advocacy. Introduction equal opportunity for an arts education respectively. The third section sifts through the wide range of modern definitions of equal As the Congress struggles to agree upon the content of a new educational opportunity which have emerged in recent studies of Civil Rights Bill, and as communities across the country likewise the topic. The final segment offers some implications of these grapple with local legislation inivatives designed to provide equity, definitions for arts education practice within the profession, and equality, parity, and fairness for a variety of minority interests proposes some implied strategies for the promotion of arts educa- (racial, linguistic, cultural, and sexual), the American public is tion as equal educational opportunity to the public at large. called upon once again to reconsider these founding principles of The Evolving Idea of Equality our country. This is neither novel nor surprising, for these prin- ciples are, and always have been, evolutionary. Each era and in General Education generation has defined for themselves what equity, equality, The ideas of publicly supported, formal education and equal parity, and fairness mean. educational opportunity are relatively recent in mankind's history. In times such as these, when strained fiscal resources in the In pre-industrial Europe, life and economy revolved around the public sector are a pivotal concern of people everywhere, such family. A child's station in life was defined to a large degree by the ideals give way too often to expedience. Perhaps it at such family into which he happened to be born. Education was not moments in our history that philosophical work of this sort is most considered a vehicle of social mobility. Indeed, social mobility needed and most valuable, indeed practical. Each interested was not valued. Rather, the child was considered a part of the group must offer their contributions to the meaning of these ideals family production enterprise and would likely remain so for life for their enterprise. It follows, then, that the task of arts educators (Coleman, 1974, p.4). The family insured that the child acquired is to examine the meaning of equity, equality, parity, and fairness the necessary skills to function in the family enterprise. The for public education generally and for arts education specifically. equality of that education with a neighboring family was a moot issue. Rather, children were provided with a differentiated educa- Discussions of equity in an educational context traditionally tional opportunity best suited for their family responsibilities and have fallen under the banner of "equal educational opportunity." social station. The central question of equal educational opportunity has been one of fairness. If the government is going to provide some In U.S. history, the ideas of equality and a free, public education educational benefit to one group or individual, should they not often are traced to Thomas Jefferson. His Declaration of Zr Ae- provide it for all? The question belies a set of relatively modern pendenceannou nceci that, "We hold these truths to be self evident, assumptions about equity and equality, assumptions which have 'sat all men are created equal...." But jeffe ide-s concerning historical antecedents dating back to the Equal Protection Clauses equality for all men are not consistent with twentieth century of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. understandings of these ideas. Jefferson clearly did not mean all men, He did not mean women, children, handicapped people, While the literature of music education is filled with elegant nor African slaves. philosophical rationales for arts as a basic subject which addresses a discrete human intelligence and which informs sentient cogni- We do know now that his notion of equality derived from an tion (aesthetic justifications), (see note #1) there is very little eighteenth century view of the uniformity of each species on philosophical consideration for the provision of arts education as the biological ladder and that equality, for him, was derived equal educational opportunity (ethical justifications). To from what was presumed to be man's highest faculty, the paraphrase the central question offered above, if the government "moral sense." That moral sense was the source of human ac- is going to provide an arts education benefit to one group or countability, he believed, and the basis of human rights. This individual, sh( ild they not provide it for all? This omission in the did not prevent him from making distinctions between per- arts education literature is ironic, for most other education interest sons of superior "parts and disposition" and other persons groups (racial minorities, handicapped children, gifted children, when he proposed a school system for the diffusion of women) have a rich literature of this sort (citations to follow). This knowledge in Virginia, nor from asserting that "twenty of the paper will attempt to advance such discussion for arts education. best geniuses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and (see note #2) be instructed, at the public expense, so far as the grammar schools go" (Greene, 1982, 4-5). There arc four parts to this discussion. The first two briefly trace the evolution of the ideas of equal educational opportunity and RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES I\3. 2Fall 1991 9 Por. Jefferson, school was a place to acquire the skills necessary the "comprehensive high school." Many of the smaller high schools for survival and to gain sufficient literacy to participate in self- simply were not able to provide the range of educational oppor- governance. tunities necessary for the expanding population of U.S. secondary schools. By consolidating the many small high schools into fewer, The Industrial Revolution brought with it fundamental change larger, comprehensive ones, the resources would be distributed in the way families functioned, the degree to which they equipped more efficiently and the 'means by which to preserve a general their children for their life's work, and the degree to which one's education for the majority of students, while also strengthening the social station was a function of inheritance. academic, pre-collegiate track, would be in place. As economic organization developed outside the household, It was also during the 1950's that the U.S. Supreme Court children began to be occupationally mobile outside their revisited the Plessy decision concerning racial segregation. In the families. As families lost their Pcunomic production ac- landmark case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1955), the tivities, they also began to lose their welfare functions, and Court reversed their earlier decision and declared that "separate is the poor or ill or incapacitated became more nearly a com- inherently unequal." This action of the nation's highest court began munity responsibility. Thus, the training which a child an era of racial equaliza,ion of education which is still under way. received came to be of interest to all in the community, either as his potential employers or as his potential economic sup Perhaps the most remarkable development in the evolution of ports if he became dependent (Coleman, 1974, p.4). educational opportunity - -the research that turned the idea of equal opportunity away from vocationalism and upward social mobility The scope of public education expanded in the course of the toward underlying ethical issues--was the 1966 publication of what nineteenth and twentieth centuries both temporally and function- is now called The Coleman Report" (Coleman, 1966). The prin- ally. The temporal expansion included the addition of a public cipal finding of the report was that"...no matter what the quality of secondary school as well as a kindergarten. Compulsory atten- teaching in a school and no matter what the resources available, dance laws followed. The traditional function of education the important variables, when it came to 'equalizing' were family likewise expanded as schools assumed roles formerly understood background and economic condition (Greene, 1982, p.19). as the domain of other societal institutions (such as the family and the church). This change in function implied change in the school Six years later, Jencks and his colleagues (1972 released the curriculum. results of their three-year study, which echoed the Coleman Report. Neither school resources, nor cognitive skills, not educa- A common curriculum hac.2 been an implicit assumption in the tional credentials explained variations in occupational earnings in meaning of equal educational opportunity in this country until the later life. "...the evidence suggests that equalizing educational beginning of this century. But with the expansion of public secon- opportunity would do very little to make adults more equal" dary education, and the large influx of non-college bound stu- (Jencks, et al., 1972, p.255). dents, the need arose to modify the "classical" or liberal education, common at that time, in response to the cry for a more "practical" But perhaps more compelling than these research findings is or vocational one (Coleman, 1974). Hence, two tracks were intro- the alternative conception of education equity which then duced into the educational system, creating, by definition, an emerged in American educational philosophy. Jencks recom- unequal educational process. Debate about the appropriateness of mended that such an educational design "...dominated discussion of education- Instead of evaluating schools in terms of long-terms effects al policy until mid-century" (Kirp, 1982, p. 37). on their alumni, which appear to be relatively uniform, we In addition to the disparate education within schools which the think it wiser to evaluate schools in terms of their immediate two-track curriculum provided, a U.S. Supreme Court case effects on teachers and students, which appear much more declared near the turn of the century that railway cars, and by variable. Some schools are dull, depressing, even terrifying analogy schools, could be racially segregated provided they were places, while others are lively, comfortable, and reassuring. "equal" (aos,s.y_vEcrglason, 1896). The differences between the If we think of school life as an end in itself rather than a two curricular tracks described above within white schools did not means to some other end, such differences are enormously begin to approach the profound differences in schooling offered important. Eliminating these differences would not do much to the children attending black schools when compared to white to make adults more equal, but it would do a great deal to schools. This action of the Court had the net effect of sanctioning make the quality of children's (and teachers') lives more gross inequality between schools. equal. Since children are in school for a fifth of their lives, this would be a significant accomplishment (Jencks, et al., In the 1950's, the cry arose for greater comprehensiveness and 1972, p.256) academic rigor in the American high school (Conant, 1959). The national alarm had sounded with the Russians' launch of Sputnik. Greene took the argument a step further when she proposed Americans, in the throes of the Cold War, perceived themselves to that be losing the race for technological supremacy. The source of these ...the focus ought to be on beginnings, not the end-points or problems, it was argued, was in the schools. the two-track cur- products of predefined competencies with which we are riculum was alleged to have lowered the academic standards of preoccupied today. Beginnings, the taking of initiatives in in- American schools and thus made them less competitive globally. quit), and learning, the reflective pursuits of meanings that James B. Conant responded to this national alarm by proposing may illuminate lived lives: these ought to be the concerns of to centralize further the educational process, offering a more schools committed to equality (Greene, 1982, p.20). expanded version of the two-track system to create a setting in Defining equal educational opportunity as a concern about which the needs of the increasingly diverse population could best pmcesses rather than outcomes represented art important shift in .be met. The means by which these reforms could be achieved was 4 10 No. 2 Pall 1991 RESEARCH PEkSPECI'IVES American educational philosophy, with important implications for enjoyment, understanding, creation, participation, and evalua- arts education in the public schools. As will be noted in a sub- tion), and that arts be placed in the regular school curriculum, sequent section of this essay, definitions not of equal educational the extra curriculum (Engel, 63). Roughly thirty states now require opportunity which focus on what the literature now calls "input by law the inclusion of art in the curriculum (Banfield, 120) while characteristics" or processes provide a vigorous framework in roughly forty states require the inclusion of music in some fashion which arts education can find a central place--a place in which its ("Arts Requirements," 1991, 16-17). grossly disparate provision could be viewed as unequal, inequi- table and unfair. Education philosophers likewise mention the arts when discus- sion educational opportunity and educational balance. Eisner However, while this new conception of equal educational points out, for example, that all of the more than forty national opportunity continues to unfold, it likewise coexists with earlier, studies of educational excellence and effectiveness which have perhaps more familiar understandings of the term across the appeared since the early 1980's have recommended a substantial country. The idea of equal educational opportunity clearly con- place for the systematic study of the arts in the formulation of a tinues to evolve. basic and balanced curriculum, not because of the utilitarian influences of the study of the The Evolving Idea of arts on the other "more basic" Equality components of the curriculum, but rather because and. Arts Education of the central place of the arts in the human experience (Eisner, 1987, 38). (see note #3) Just as the notion of educational opportunity has evolved from one of differentiated opportunity, to one of separate-but-equal The major argument for the arts in education is schools, to one of racially integrated but unequal schools, to schools which find themselves ...that since humans experience and challenged to examine processual give expression to their and qualitative concerns, most deeply held values, beliefs, and so the place of arts education has evolved images through the in this country. Whereas, several arts; there can be no adequate form of centuries ago, artistic pursuits and general education that . studies were understood to be reserved does not include them (Eisner, for the aristocracy and the 1987, 38-39). high church because of the differentiated educational opportunity Indeed, there appears to be such a considerable consensus and culture clearly understood to be appropriate to the ideals of concerning the importance of arts education for all children that the pre-industrial era, today a considerable literature exists which in recent years the. professional and places a central importance political literature has argued on the arts for all members of or for arts education in the context of equal educational opportunity. society, and which even suggests that the arts must be a central component in any definition of equal educational Equity of educational opportunity opportunity. cannot be provided if some children are not given the chance to use and develop Including the arts in the U.S. public school curriculum began in their most potent intellectual abilities. By diversifying the the 1830's ("Boston School Committee...118371," 1983). Formerly, forms or representation that arc made available in school and education in the arts was understood to be a matter for the church by according.them a status equal to the status now accorded or for private tutoring (Leonhard and House, 1972, 55). However, the three R's, we might be to expand the success that by the turn of the century, larger cities had gone so far as to some children achieve in school to those who now find require"...music, drawing (to develop ability for accurate repre- schools places in which only particular, sentation), and art appreciation (the limited varieties of study of act history and the human ability count. Students who are told both formally lives of artists)" (Banfield, 1984, 118). The champions of Pragmatic and informally, implicitly and explicitly, covertly and overtly philosophy, promoting knowledge to guide behavior and the use that their particular interests and aptitudes are unimportant, of problem solving method, did much to expand the place of that they are nonintellectual, that they will not be taken into music, in particular, in the school experience (Leonhard and account when the students arc seeking admission to a univer- House, 61-62). However, by the turn of the century, larger cities sity are being denied equal education had gone so far as to require opportunity (Eisner, "...music, drawing (to develop ability 1982,80). for accurate representation), and art appreciation (the study of art history and the lives of artists)" Specific interest groups likewise (Banfield, 1984, 118). The cham- have made a claim for the pions of Pragmatic philosophy, central importance of the promoting knowledge to guide arts for the schools. Groups concerned behavior and the use of problem with the handicapped (Appel', solving method, did much to 1978), women (Multicultural Non- expand the place of music, in particular, sexist Education, 1980) and the in the school experience socially and culturally disad- (Leonhard and House, 61-62). Coupled vantaged (Pierce, 1979) have with advances in broad- built a substantial literature cast, recording, and print technology, documenting the evolution of the place making the world of the fine of the arts in the schools arts more widely accessible, the to that of high priority, perhaps importance and pervasiveness of even entitlement. the arts for the general population, and subsequently for the To summarize, just as the idea of equal educational opportunity common curriculum, grew (Leonhard and I louse, 65-67). has evolved dramatically, so too the idea of the place of arts In fact, the national commitment education as an input characteristic to the presence of the arts in in the public schools has all the schools and for all the evolved. The pervasive position children has risen to such a degree of the arts in the vast majority of that national governmental standards now exist for categorical American schools, the escalating mandate for arts education for all funding projects. Citing the Federal children, and the spiraling role Register (vol. 40, no. 126), of the federal government in Engel listed the seven national criteria for making making arts available for all arts and educa- citizens, seem to combine to make tion programs acceptable (1977). Among the more striking of increasingly challengeable its denial or grossly disparate provision these were the requirements that all students receive to the children of some districts within access to all a state. art areas incorporating all modes of experience (appreciation, RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES 0 No. 2Fall 1991 11 Modern Definitions of The Fun Opportunity Definition Equal Education Opportunity Every person is to be given full opportunity to develop his abilities to their limit. If it is true that the evolution of the idea of equal opportunity for an arts education has evolved sufficiently in our culture to The Foundation Definition suggest that it is unfair, inequitable, unequal, and therefore, unac- ...stipulates a "satisfactory minimum offering," expressed in ceptable to provide an arts education to some and deny it or dollars to be spent, which shall be guaranteed to every pupil. Such provide it in grossly disparate terms to others, then it follows that a program guarantees every child equal educational opportunity education policy makers require some standard by which to deter- up to a prescribed minimum. mine whether differences in arts education provisions constitute an unacceptable, perhaps even unlawful, disparity. The following The Minimum Attainment Definition discussion will review the writings of two influential researchers ...asserts that resources shall be allocated to every student until who have considered just such questions in broad educational he reaches a specified level of achievement contexts. (see note #4) An attempt will then be made to close this discussion by applying these principles to arts education ques- The Leveling Definition tions. ...asserts that resources should be allocated in inverse propor- WISE AND WICK tion to students' ability. Before considering how manageable it is to define equal educa- The "Deserving" Definition tional opportunity, or more to the point, to determine when equal ...asserts that educational resources should be allocated in education opportunity is absent, it is helpful to consider first which direct proportion to students' ability...The more able a student is, policy makers will need to apply such definitions for policy the greater should be his access to society's scarce resources. deliberations. Public education (and indeed most of public life) was once far more decentralized than it is now. The nation has The Equal Dollars Per Pupil Definition evolved from a agrarian culture to a highly urbanized one. In the ...society is obliged to grant an equal amount of its scarce last 90 years, the number of public school districts in this country educational resources, as measured in dollars, to the education of has declined from over 200,000 to less than 20,000. Per capita every individual. representation on school boards has eroded as well. These factors, among others, have created a contentious, and often litigious, The Maximum Variance Ration Definition public. William Hazard observed that ...allow a permissible range of deviation from exact equality in Over the past two decades state and federal courts have exer- expenditures. cised increasing influence on school policy making and, by The Classification Definition pre-emption, have taken the policy making play away from local boards in many important issues. In particular, the ap- ...requires first the specification of "suitable" educational plication of law to school conflict has changed our percep- programs for students of specified characteristics. It then requires tions of the role of the school board in policy making. School that each program be made available to every student with the board decisions are rarely accepted these days as the last corresponding set of characteristics wherever he lives in the state. word; more and more, citizens regard them as the trigger for The classification definition thus specifies that there is to be legal confrontations. Put another way, schooling is no longer equality for all within a classification (Wise, 1967, p.145-158). regarded as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition but is viewed, Of these, Wise felt that the courts likely would select the along with the policies supporting it, as an offer negotiable in Negative Definition to determine the presence or absence of court. As a result, educational policies are the product of con- stitutional, statutory, and case-law interpretations (1978,12). equality of educational opportunity, in that it is "...consistent with the rationales employed by the Court" regarding treatments of Given this modern scenario, it seems reasonable to focus then African Americans, indigent criminals, and voters by the state on those definitions of equal educational opportunity which the (Wise, 1967, p.158). courts have, or might, find compelling. For regardless of whether the courts will become involved in such questions (in fact they John W. Wick proposed an alternative rationale to those listed above in the consideration of equal educational opportunity, already have), policy makers at the school board and legislative which may be summarized as follows. All parents, students, level will be influenced heavily by standards which a court could manage. teachers, administrators, etc. want their schools to be "quality" schools. "Quality" in this sense means more than simply possessing In his landmark study of the constitutionality of intrastate, some characteristic which distinguishes it from others not sharing interdistrict disparities in per-pupil spending, Arthur E. Wise that characteristic. derived a set of nine possible definitions of equal educational Wick began his discussion noting that: opportunity the courts might employ in consideration of litigations regarding the allocating of educational resources (1967). The Quality is not measured by rate, as in the case of produc- definitions included: tivity: quality is measured by outcomes (1986, p.422). The Negative Definition Although quality may have as much to do with perceptions o Equality of educational opportunity exists when a child's educa- excellence as it has to do with outcomes which might lend the tional opportunity does not depend upon either his parents' selves to quantification, when it comes time to render poll economic circumstances or his location within the state. BEST COPY AVAILABLE No. 2Fall 1991 6 12 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE decisions, nevertheless, quality in education is for Wick a function The central task of outcomes of schooling. now is to close this discussion It is a term suggesting by considering excellence or implications specific superiority. No one to the arts education wants equally bad educational professional which opportunities. emerge from the larger set of People want equally good issues in the literature of educational opportunities. equal educational opportunity. It is a formidable task, deserving volumes Wick identified four viable to do the topic justice. approaches to the evaluation of such However, these closing remarks will attempt "quality-with-equity" (Wick, 1986, to identify and clarify p.422). The first approach some of the major themes of called for the tempering of particular expectations to make them relevance to arts education. consistent with These implications speak to profes- predictive input characteristics. This approach acknowledged sional practice in arts education and to advocacy that of arts education findings of Coleman and others regarding the to policy makers in predictive correla- terms of equity, equality, parity, and fairness. tions between socio-economic status (as an input characteristic) and educational First, it is clear that the idea of equal educational outcomes. Under this plan, opportunity is educational goals a vital and evolving would be generated concept. Tracing its history in in light of these external Western culture, or status variables. both in general and arts-specific contexts, provides substantial The second approach called for the examination evidence to support that of a school's tenet. The history of other cultures could programmatic responses to the provide equally compelling needs of students. This is a two- proof. The acknowledgement step process, in which of the one first explores the degree evolutionary character of this to which the idea is a first step in recognizing that curriculum matches the needs it will continue of the incoming student to evolve. And while there population. have been several unfortunate regressions A public school cannot in its history, most would agree that the develop programs, then seek stu- evolution of equal educational dents to fit opportunity has been steadily programs: the student is the more independent variable inclusive, more conspicuous, here, and it is the and more just. It also programs which must conform (Wick, seems obvious that arts educators have 1986, p.429). an important role to play in the promotion and guidance of this evolution. a One then looks to see if the means are in place by which to Second, most definitions match these programs with the students who require an expansion of current arts most need them. education practice. Closer Wick highlighted in this scrutiny of several of the discussion the distinction modern defini- between estab- tions cited above supports this tenet. Wise's lishing entry-level skills necessary for the successful learning Negative Definition ex- implies, at minimum, that perience in a course, arts education inputs should versus screening and sorting. not be a The guiding function of the district issue is whether or in which you happen not the student has these to reside. If' lgorous necessary entry-level arts education programs skills, as opposed are in place in some communities to traditional sorting technique of a criteria such as state, they should be in place completing a prior in all communities within course, or completing that t!.: t state. course with a certain grade and receiving a teacher recommendation, Wise's Full OpportUnity etc. Definition represents perhaps the largest expansion of The third approach arts education for it requires examined the quality of that all students instruction as an be developed to the limits input characteristic, although of their ability. This implies higher quality instruction an individual would be education plan typical of expected to be linked PL 94-142 for all children. to educational outcomes. The Once needs final approach and abilities of each student are identified addressed what Wick called a strategy must be instructional efficiency. Expressed in developed to achieve those efficiency ratios, these objectives. This would measures look like productivity mean a sub- ratios, stantial expansion of except that they are unitless. arts education resolaces, especially at the Examples offered by Wick included: secondary level where only 15% of the student opportunity-to-learn minutes per class minutes; number of population par- correct- ticipates in systematic ly spelled words arts instruction. While, per words attemptcca minutes on its face, this spent at the wheel sounds outrageous per minutes in a driver- education an extreme, the courts have been known to class (Wick, 1986, p.431). embrace just such a definition. In the West Virginia Supreme Court, Wick concluded that the for example, the judiciary use of the second, third, and ruled that fourth approaches to equal educational opportunity would be ap- Legally recognized elements propriate, advisable, and need in this definition are develop- not be exclusive (Wick, 1986, ment in every child to his p.432). Equal educational or her capacity of (1) literacy; opportunity, for Wick, (2) must imply ability to add, subtract, quality of educational multiply and divide opportunity as well. It numbers; (3) must begin and end knowledge of government with the students' needs, to the extent that the child strengths, and background. will be It must as- equipped as a citizen sume a high level of instruction. to make informed choices It must not imply among per- sorting of sons and issues that affect his students. own governance; (4) self- knowledge and knowledge of his or her total environment to Implications and allow the child to Strategies intelligently choose life work--to know his or her options; (5) work-training This very cursory and advanced academic review of the modern definitions of equal training as the child may intelligently choose; (6) educational opportunity recreational reveals several things. First, there is a pursuits; (7) interests in all create arts, such as music, richness to the ideas begin theater, considered by those working Lam= cathlieyd to refine and advance this (8) social ethics, both be- concept. Second, this richness provides such an havioral and abstract, to facilitate compatibility array of choices and approaches with others in to the task that one easily this society. can find it confusing, frustrating, discrepant, and elusive. Finally, because arts education has focused Implicit are supportive its philosophical work service: (1) good physical on aesthetics facilities, in- agenda, these concepts structional materials and are likely to be foreign to personnel; (2) careful arts educational state and local research specialists. supervision to prevent waste and to monitor pupil, teacher and administrative competency (Pau ley v. Kelly, 1979). (Em- phasis added( RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES No. 2Fall 1991 13 The court offered little assistance in defining such terms as The literature of equal educational opportunity provides a "develop" or "capacity" further, however. meaningful basis for articulating the importance of arts education for all children. It resides in the larger literature of educational The Foundation and Minimum Attainment Definitions provide philosophy and will be more familiar the least support for the invigoratior to education policy makers arts education (or for any than aesthetic arguments. Indeed, the other education curriculum, for that matter). issues are less sophisticated The former equalizes and more accessible. if the governmental dollars spent (typically dollars adjusted benefit of an arts educa- to account for fiscal over- tion is going to be provided to burden), while the latter places some children, should it not be an achievement ceiling on stu- provided for all children? On its face, fairness dents. Once students have reached that and equity would academic achievement argue that it would. ceiling public support of their education stops. The latter has received far less support in public circles, but it is extremely This is not to diminish the validity and significance of aesthetic conservative fiscally and may gain favor in public circles as the arguments. For more than twenty years, they have provided a strain on public monies worsens. philosophical foundation which has dispelled much insecurity for the arts education profession, and have The Leveling Definition would have the offered much guidance in most unusual impact the continued growth and maturity of the on music education programs in particular, for it discipline as well. But would require as resources for public education continue that the greatest instructional to diminish, as the resources and attention to be directed American population continues to to the least musically able. It is an equal educational age, and as competition for such opportunity limited resources becomes definition which seeks to more combative, arts education will promote educational intervention to need to have considered the full offset the "natural" difference which range of arguments likely to children bring to the public surface in the deliberations concerning the school experience. It. contrasts most notably with the Deserving appropriation of educa- tion resources, and will need to understand Definition of education as meritocracy. the range of implica- Because many school tions which they present to the profession. music programs seek to identify and attract the most musically able into the performance program, design instructional plans which References cluster students by ability, and offer the greatest "rewards" in terms Appel!, M J. (1978). An overview: arts in education fur the of festival ratings, touring, performance handicapped. Arts and opportunities, etc., to the lanclicappeci: Defining the National Direction. Washington, D.C.: The Na- these talented young artists, the Leveling Definition would require tional Committee, Arts for the I landicapped. a reexamination of many of the most "sacred" assumptions of music Arts requirementsstate by state. (1991, Spring). Soundpost 2, 16 -17. education practice. Bonfield, E.C. (1984). The Democratic Muse: Visual Arts and the Public Interest. New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc.. Wise's Characteristic Definition parallels closely Wick's "quality-with-equity" definition in which educational Boston school committee, report of special committee programs are (1837). (1982). In M.L. derived from carefully assessed student Mark (Ed.), Source Readings in Music Eduotion History. New York, NY: needs. This is not to be Schirmcr Books. confused with the Full Opportunity Definition discussed above, for it does not mandate that each student I3rown v Board of Education of Topeka KS, 347 U.S. 483 (1955). be developed to their capacityrather that a sincere attempt Coleman, J. (1974). The concept of equality of educational to made avoid imposing an opportunity. In L.P. Miller and E.W. Gordon (Eds.), Equality of Educational educational plan on students without careful Opportunity: A Hand- regard for their entry book for Research. New York, NY: AMS Press, inc. skills, abilities, and needs. While there are standardized tests Coleman,),, et. al. (1966). ErFiality of Educational available to assist with such Oonortuniw. Washington, an undertaking for arts education, they D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. are used very seldom in such diagnostic ways. To embrace such a Collins, C. (1970). The concept of equality in the definition for public schooling in the context of educational policies arts would require substantial of desegregation and ability grouping (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana Univer- change in professional practice. sity). Several regions of the Conant,J.B. (1959). The American High School Today country are revisiting the education New York, NY: M cGraw- Hill. voucher option in an attempt (1) relieve strain on state education budgets, (2) provide education choices Eisner, E.W. (1982) Cognition and Curricalum for the general public, and Basis for Deridittg What to A. Teach. New York, NY: Longman. (3) allow schools to "compete in an open market" so as to improve standards of public education. This (1987, April). Educating the whole person: option is a form of equal arts in the curriculum. Music Educatorsjou ma 123, 37-41. educational opportunity as either an Equal Dollars Per Student or Engel, M. (1977, April). Toward a federal policy for Maximum Variance Definition. Moves the arts in education. Journal in this direction have had of Aesthetic Education, 11, 45-65. the effect of reducing the opportunity for many students to receive Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of systematic, sequential instruction in the Multiple Intelligences Ncw arts. Schools posturing York, NY: Basic Books. themselves as "science/math schools" or "engineering schools" or Greene, M. (1982). "pre -med schools" in a site-based Equalit,v_QLQp42.Q1BLnity: Perspectives sod Possibilities (ERIC management scheme have Document Reproduction Service, ED 224 757) elected to delete arts instruction from the curriculum. Schools in liazard, W.R. (1978). Courts in the saddle: school dense urban settings have found boards out. In W.R. Hazard themselves unable to afford to (ed.), Education and the Law- Case Materials on Public Schools (2nd ed.). provide much more than minimal curriculum components due to Ncw York, NY: The Free Press. (Reprinted from awslia_sappla, 1974, the municipal overburden (the high December, 259-261) cost of doing business in such settings). Educational philosophers and Jencks, C., et. al. (1972). IngatialimAReasseamehtgfthelfjectgliaravind jurists alike have oh 'crved that approaches to educational equity which promote disparate Schooling in America,. New York, NY: Basic Books. educational funding or disparate education purchasing power in Kirp, D.L. (1982). Just Schools: The Idea of Racial Equality in American Education. the name of choice seldom provide Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. real choice or parity (Serrano v. Priest 1976). Arts educators will want to watch these develop. Larson, B.A. (1972). Equal protection of the law and equality of educational op- p ments very closely. nunity (Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota). 14 No. 2Fall 1991 6 BEST COPY AVAILABLE RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES 1 Leonhard, C., and House, R.W. (1972). ratladalicaraaadathicipks of Music Silard, J., and White, S. (1970). Intrastate inequalities in public education: ?duration (2nd cd). New York, NY: the case McGraw-Hill. for judicial relief under the equal protection clause aijsronsin Law Review, Z Mercer, J.W. (1979). The constitutional guarantees of due process and equal Wick, J.W. (1986, Spring). The evaluation of quality and quality-with-equity protection for gifted public school students (Doctoral dissertation, in University education. North Central Assoriatio-, Quarterly, 6f1, 422-433. of Minnesota). Wise, A.E. (1967). The constitution ano .quality: wealth, geography, and educa- Multicultural NonsexistEducation: Arts Education in Iowa Schools. (1980). Des tional opportunity (Doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago).Notes Moines: Department of Public Instruction. Notes Pauley v. Kelly, 255 S.E.2d 859 (W. Va. 1979). Pierce, C. (1979). t 1. Two celebrated examples include Gardner (1983) and Reimer (1989). Washington, . D.C.: Project Read, Inc. 2. For a more expanded discussion of this topic readers are directed to the author's Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896). dissertation (1990) from which much of the material in this article is drawn. Reimer, B. (1989). A Philosophy of Music FeuratiOT1 (2d ed.). Englewood 3. For an insight into the extent of the contrast of this philosophical Cliffs, justification for N.J.: Prentice -Hail. study of the arts to earlier views, see (Report of special committee 11837]..., 1982, 134-43) as an example of a utilitarian justification for the place of music Report of special committee (1837), Boston school committee. (1982). In M.L. in the schools. Mark (Ed.). Source Readings in Music Education KW.= (pp. 134.43). New York: Schirmer Books. 4. Space does not permit a more exhaustive review of the many positions on this question here. These two authors have examined the most influential ap- Richmond, J.W. (1991). Equal opportunity for aesthetic development: the arts, the proaches to the question, however, and serve to provide a helpful summary schools, and the law (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, 1990). for the purposes of this article. In addition to these two researchers, readers Dissertation Ahstrar,c International, Sl, 4055A. might wish to review (Collins, 1970; Larson, 1972; Mercer, 1979, and Silard and Serrano v. Priest (Serrano II), 557 P.2d 929 (Cal. 1976). White, 1970). BEST COPY VAILARLE S RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES No. 2Fall 1991 15