Why Actors and Artists should care about public education?!

If you have been too busy with auditions, performing, and making all your dreams come true, it may not be so obvious that public education is going to hell in a hand basket. Standardized test scores are the norm and critical thinking and the arts are simply for those who can afford it. Literature is barely read and the joy that we all got from attending music in school is no longer the norm. I just attended a conference where the Director of an organization that provides funding to many schools in Philadelphia described educational reform as, "Dumping the Losers." I substitute at schools that focus much of their energy on how a student can pass an exam in Kindergarten as opposed to developing joy for learning through play. Shit! They cannot even take a nap when neuroscience studies proves that they need them.

And this corporate influence is not only in schools, it is also in entertainment. Full-time jobs with benefits in television are so limited because anyone with a camera and a laptop can call themselves a production specialist and freelance for pennies per hour. Reality television and the sheer growing number of channels have changed the opportunities available for actors to actually work. Even readings want a quicker return as opposed to simply gathering some artists together to work on some new material. This quick return is what occurs when a business model is placed over something that was never created to be simply that. Here is another truth. Corporations want a financial return.

Now why should any of this be a concern? Because if we do not pay attention to it, it will eventually be the established norm with no hope of alteration. If we do not vote accordingly or speak out, then our future generations may never fully know the beauty of Shakespeare or the complexity of Jazz. If we do not speak out as artists, then we may not have anyone to take our place when we are gone. 

I can remember my music teacher in first grade not only teaching us theory, but she directed us in the Mikado and made costumes for us. Even if I had not grown up in a household that nurtured an artistic appreciation within me, I still would have had the chance to peek and see what it is like.  That is priceless and it is already missing in public schools. There are no more school libraries, art, music, dance, theater, and many of our children are beginning to suffer and feel the consequences of a world devoid of artistic expression and critical thought. Fuck that! What can we do to make difference?!