Thinking Further About The Arts.

So, its coming up for Grade 9 and 10 exam choices. Now only in grade 8, you're not quite sure what you you want to do with your life. You feel very passionate about Drama and Music and know that your career will involve both. Not being able to choose these subjects would limit your career options. Aren’t you the one deciding your own future? Understanding the points experts have made I still think its our choice as students, to make our own choices.

I take the position that there needs to be more opportunities for arts in IGCSE, while the students are encouraged to take a variety of subjects in order to give them a broad foundation when picking IB diploma subjects. Yet there still seems to be a bias for other subjects with an explanation that an art could be covered as an activity. The Arts are more likely to be a students passion with clear career paths that can be followed, and finally Arts can give more students opportunities to express themselves. 

One reason students would benefit from being able to choose more than one art, is that in these subjects they can express themselves. In the art subjects you have opportunity to create your own compositions. When you compose something in music or design something in D.T, you can reflect yourself in it, and make it your own. Whereas in many other academic subjects, the aim is to problem solve and learn facts. For an example in a recent Music unit, we had to show our learning, by getting together in groups and fulfil the certain requirements that had to be in the piece. But as long as we had these requirements, we were able to put our own flair to it, which made each piece unique. In contrast, lately in a science unit we were learning about the body systems. That unit was very facts based and there was no place where we could add our own pizzazz to it.

Another reason that only being able to choose one art is unfair is that there seems to be a bias towards non art subjects. All students take coordinated science on the understanding that it gives you a good base for IB diploma, which limits you from getting another GCSE in another subject area because coordinated science amounts to two GCSE’s. The GCSE program does not enable a student who knows they need to take two of the arts for their career. For example Cathy Jones VP of UWC East High School, states that there are other ways to fulfil art interests by doing activities instead of taking another art exam. You could do performances rather than do a Drama GCSE or you could take part in the orchestra or other ensembles rather than do Music GCSE.

Lastly, art subjects encourage feelings of passion; when you do subjects you know that you can succeed in, you want to pursue them as far as you can. Only being able to choose one of Music and Drama when they go so well together would limit your possibilities. Art subjects are vocational and often encourage people to follow a different and more unusual path. The values of UWCSEA encourage students to make a change to go beyond the expected. Pursuing the Arts fulfils this in the same way that other subjects do. This is significant because whether you are designer or an artist or an actor you can make the same impact as a scientist, explorer or humanitarian could. Being passionate about what you do can only make you more determined to succeed. “Plus est en vous” Are the famous words of Kurt Hahn, Theres more in you than you think. Following your passion enables you to aim higher.