Lessons the Arts Teach B y E l l i o t E i s n e r w w w . a r t e d u c a t o r s . o r g
1. The arts teach children to make GOOD JUDGMENTS about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail. 2. The arts teach children that problems can have MORE than ONE solution and that questions can have more than one answer. 3. The arts celebrate multiple PERSPECTIVES. .One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to SEE and INTERPRET the world. 4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving, purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. 5. The arts teach students that SMALL DIFFERENCES can have LARGE EFFECTS. The arts traffic in subtleties. 6. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which IMAGE become REAL. 7. The ARTS ENABLE us to have EXPERIENCE we can have from no other source and through such experience to DISCOVER the range and variety of what we are capable of FEELING.