It seems that our neighbors out east in the DFW area are putting their feet down when it comes to art.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by ingorant, uninformed, biased, and backward people who fear that kids learning about art would… what exactly?  Perhaps become creative individuals who would be able to think for themselves and learn how to problem solve using their brains and creativity.

The Dallas Morning News ran an article on PBS art documentary raises eyebrows, concerns in Dallas schools.

A young girl stands naked posing for the camera. An artist ignites gunpowder to create images on a canvas. A silhouette appears to show a man roasting the heads of black children over a campfire.

Sounds compelling and emotional, not concerning.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until the day I die; Great art is supposed to make you think…

This is an art documentary series by PBS art:21-Art in the Twenty-First Century  given to teachers of 6th grade to 12th grade.  The series documents 40 artists describes their techniques.

Problem is that it’s real art.  Emotional, captivating, spiritual, etc.

But some teachers and parents are concerned that images they consider too disturbing or sexual for the classroom may be acceptable to some art teachers. They also fear that students will take it upon themselves to search the Internet for more information about some artists in the documentary and get an eyeful.

OH NO!

We wouldn’t want that now would we?  I mean, why on earth would we want the children of our future to become immersed in something other than MTV or Gossip Girl?  Next thing you know, they’ll start thinking for themselves.

The Dallas district’s current curriculum is old, Ms. Sohm said, and mainly focuses on basic elements of art, such as lines, colors and shapes. It also doesn’t allow students to express their feelings through their artwork and no contemporary art is used, she said.

Unfortunately that statement is not new or specific to Dallas’ district only.  It’s very well documented that art and music programs are the first to get cut when school budgets have to be tightened.  It’s truly no wonder that America is falling behind the rest of the world in areas of education and advancement.

Quite simply, art and music programs teach children and young adults how to express themselves and to be creative when it comes to problem solving.

But hey, if you’re offended, fell free to keep your kids out of museums and art galleries.  They’ll be just fine in front of the T.V.  What’s on the new 90210 series today anyway?