What is the role of art education/ art educators in teaching students to be media literate digital citizens?
I feel that art theory would be an important part of art education if it was brought to light the capabilities it gives to children to view critically anything and everything. That being said, I have to comment on the documentary Killing Us Softly by saying that perception is everything. Sex sells, but why? Isn't it important to view the fact that sex sells mainly because it is an animal urge? What does this say about the complete lack of sophistication in this media climate? Does this disconnect between education/ intellect and this animal urge disturb anyone else? What does this tell the youth of today?
In the documentary Consuming Kids, they speak of the "commercialization of childhood". How must the youth of today navigate the confounding world of advertising and knowledge? In an art education class our students must be continually asked to decipher what they see. This question has no right answer, but allows the critical thinking required to review everything in life. I doubt most children have been asked to evaluate what advertisements and articles say to them. I have never taught an art class in my life, so I may be naive is saying all of this, but I think it would be worthwhile to ask the students of today what they see in a piece of artwork. I took many art classes in high school, but was never asked to decipher a work of art. What can something as seemingly simple as that teach a student about critical thinking?
Asking students to decipher a work of art. Seems like a simple task...right? In my experiences, my young elementary students K-4 love completing this task. They all have an opinion, different interpretations, and great things to say. I love having these types of class discussions with my students. However something happens around 6th grade. They shut down and it is hard to get a peep out of them. When they reach high school all their creativity has escaped and they continually look to me for the correct answer. As you stated, there is not a correct answer, but our students are used to having one given to them. It is truly a difficult task for some of my students to write a few sentences about what they think the artist was trying to say in his piece of artwork. This has been something I continually struggle with as an art teacher. How do you teach a student to create their own interpretation of a work of art?
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