Arts programs are more than numbers

Several weeks ago, the Orlando Sentinel published a letter from a reader who questioned why schools were wasting money teaching chorus, drama, visual arts, band and foreign languages instead of focusing solely on “the subjects that are meaningful to the students.” This attitude that the arts are somehow expendable, frivolous or simply a waste of resources is an attitude that is shared by too many in our community.

As an arts teacher, I wonder why so many think that our collective culture and self-expression are “meaningless.” After 10 years of teaching drama and English, I have encountered many different opinions from my teenage students and have learned that many of their firmly held beliefs are based in significant ignorance or misplaced priorities.

Our leaders are seemingly worse than teenagers at times, altering our societal priorities by relying solely on whatever numbers they’re told are important. We have become a society that seeks quantification of everything. If you can put a number on it, it can be properly judged. The value of a building project can only be determined if there are numbers involved (jobs created, traffic flow projections, profit); the numbers associated with one’s retirement portfolio clearly represent one’s judgment, education and character; and teachers’ capabilities can be accurately established by giving multiple-choice tests to their students.

Hey, numbers tell the whole story, don’t they? You can’t debate numbers!

Actually, stories are written with words, and numbers are debatable, especially when it comes to determining value.

Don’t agree? Then you obviously think that this summer’s blockbuster hit “Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” is a better movie than the classic film “It’s A Wonderful Life.” After all, the Transformers movie made more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office (easily eclipsing its budget of $195 million). In contrast, “It’s A Wonderful Life” was considered a flop when it opened in 1946, unable to recoup its budget during its initial run.

And we know numbers tell the whole story, right?

Now you may wish to explain that “Transformers” was the more “profitable” movie, not actually the “better” one, that its numbers only represent financial gain and have no direct relation to its artistic, emotional or moral quality.

Now you’re getting my point. No one should be evaluated simply on the numbers in their lives. Vincent van Gogh sold one painting in his lifetime. Emily Dickinson never sold a single poem. Judy Garland died broke. Do we really think of these artists as failures?

I don't need numbers to understand who someone is. I can tell more about people by examining the art they choose to surround themselves with (books, films, pictures and music) than I can from any numbers, equations, scientific hypotheses or test scores you could ever provide me. The arts exist primarily to provide everyone with the necessary tools to express their individuality in the world, as well as to connect each person to every other person out there on a basic human level because, after all, we all experience most of the same emotions. And emotions don’t come with numbers. And shouldn’t.

Despite what the Sentinel reader may have thought,

I believe that what’s “meaningful” to our students is for them to have the tools that allow them to find their own meaning.

Robert Dutton, drama instructor at Winter Park High School, will be presenting an hour-long talk, “Why your child needs an arts education right now!” at WPHS' Ann Derflinger Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. All are invited to attend.