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Arts Education Event at Adrien Block Intermediate
School #25
Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Queens, New York
March 3, 1999
Thank you. Thank you so much, Kyle. Thank you for the introduction, but more
than that, thank you for talking so eloquently about the role of dance and the
arts in your life. And I also want to thank the musicians you heard earlier
and the chorus you heard just now for their performance. And I'd like to
give both Kyle and the musicians and the choral singers another round of applause.
Thank you all.
As I was listening to the singing, I thought about my own experience—a
tone deaf person who in elementary school was told that I could sit with my
friends in the soprano section of the school chorus if I lip-synched. And so
I was always impressed when I could hear the beautiful voices, particularly
of young people. And in a way it is those voices—whether they are voices
singing, or voices giving some expression in dance, or the voice of an artist,
as I saw earlier today, sculpting or using pastels or painting—it is really
that sense of the vital voice of the young people throughout our country that
we celebrate today.
I saw some of the work, and any of you who have walked through the halls of
this beautiful school have seen it as well. Work that is done not just on special
occasions when the arts are celebrated in a marginal way, but work that is done
through the arts, using the arts in ways to learn—as we saw in the Mentoring
Magic video—in every aspect of the education here at this school. I really
am impressed because this school district, as many have already spoken about,
has really put arts education at the center of the learning that goes on. And
that is especially important in today's world. Because we know how significant
education is, and particularly how important it is that young people learn how
to express themselves. To find ways, as Kyle told us, to use their feelings
that maybe come up in a lunch room argument with another student, in productive
ways, in ways that allow them to release those feelings, in ways that permit
them to learn. And we have seen that firsthand here.
I want to thank Congressman Ackerman for being here with us and for his commitment
to education. As a former teacher, I sometimes think he is still teaching about
issues that are important to his constituents and our country. I want to thank
the Queens Borough President, my friend Claire Shulman, for being with us and
for always worrying about what is happening with the people of Queens. You know,
as we were walking in, Claire said to me, “This is a beautiful school,
but I'm worried because we have so many young people, so many children
in this borough now, I'm not sure we'll have enough seats and places
for all of them in the years to come.” She's always thinking about
the future, and because of that she's done a superb job. I am glad she
could join us here today.
I'm also pleased that the Deputy Mayor is with us, as is the Acting Superintendent.
I'm delighted that Dr. Judy Rizzo and many staff and members of the New
York City Board of Education who are our hosts today could be with us. And I
particularly want to thank Principal Gibson, her Assistant Principals, the faculty,
the staff, and especially the students of this school for welcoming all of us
here today.
I am also pleased to be here with Jane Pauley. We have seen Jane's skills
on television, but she's here today not only in her role as a professional,
but as the daughter of a musician, as the mother of three children, and as a
citizen of this city who has made a personal commitment to arts education and
is really making a difference. So I thank you, Jane, personally on behalf of
your work.
And Dr. Brademas—John Brademas—you have been extraordinary in every
role you have taken on and in your latest incarnation as the leader of the President's
Committee on the Arts and Humanities. You have helped draw national attention
to what those of us who love the arts and appreciate its role in the life of
our society have known for a long time—that the arts are not marginal;
that they are central to who we are as a people; and that they are certainly
critical, as we heard from that wonderful John Adams quote that the Congressman
read, they are critical to future generations as well.
Now, none of this that we are celebrating today and the report that I'm
going to officially release in a few minutes would have happened without the
tenacity and support of Dick Deasy and the Arts Education Partnership, and of
Harriet Fulbright and Rich Gurin at the President's Committee. And I am
particularly pleased to thank Rich, who is retiring. He is retiring from Binney
& Smith, and many of us got our first introduction to the arts by being
handed that big box of Crayolas and being told, “Go ahead and do something
with it.” And so, Rich, on behalf of many of us who care about the arts
and children, thank you for being a true friend to arts education.
This has been a true partnership. Our partners in the private sector have been
very supportive—especially Jane Polin and the GE Fund, who've been
there from the very first day, as Jane Pauley said; Nick Rabkin and the Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation; and Binney & Smith in its corporate capacity as
well.
I first heard about this district's extraordinary commitment to the arts
when two parents from IS #25 came to see me at the White House—Valerie
and Kenneth Cohen. And I think they are here today. Are they? Will you raise
your hands, Valerie and Kenneth? Mr. and Mrs. Cohen came to the White House
back in September to help us launch a national campaign to put arts back in
the schools in our country. And I remember Valerie talking about what happened
when her daughter saw her creative work published—the sense of confidence
and pride it gave her and how it made her even more interested in school—and
how she understood the connection between what she enjoyed doing and the other
learning that was taking place in her classes.
And I have heard the same story from so many places around our country. I have
met children who literally would not talk until they were finally introduced
to an arts program. In Washington, D.C., through a program funded by the National
Endowment for the Arts, I met children who were writing their own poetry. I
went to a school that mostly served children from a nearby housing project—a
very tough neighborhood. And I met these young people who came to school every
day through some very difficult circumstances. But because of the poetry program
at that school, they were learning how to express their ideas and feelings.
And I listened to some of their poetry as they engaged in what is called a poetry
slam, where different young people stood up and recited the poetry that they
wrote. And it was like an Olympics competition—other young people held
up cards to show whether that was an eight, or a nine, or a ten.
Now one young person wrote about the plight of a homeless man that she stepped
around every day on her way to school. Another wrote about the genius of Duke
Ellington. And when one young man read his poem, it included this memorable
line, “I am so musical that when I write songs, you sing them for the rest
of your life.” I also listened as these young men and women told me how
being in a poetry class, sponsored by the NEA with a resident poet, was helping
them cope with a lot of difficult circumstances. They were learning how to control
their feelings, understand their feelings, and express them.
I'm told there was a wonderful moment during the Second World War when
advisers urged Winston Churchill to cut Great Britain's arts budget. He
responded emphatically, “No! What do you think we're fighting for?”
He understood that the arts speak to the very heart of who we are as a people
and a nation. Every one of us who has ever seen a child perform or produce a
piece of art—whether it goes into a gallery or on our refrigerator held
up by a magnet—knows that feeling and what it ignites in a child's
heart, mind and soul.
Well, now we know something else. We know through research that exposing children
to the arts, particularly exposing children to music at an early age, not only
sparks their creativity, it improves their spatial reasoning, which can boost
later achievement in math and science. The arts engage children in learning
and really encourage them to explore and think about other subjects as well.
And programs like Learning to Read Through the Arts, which started in New York
25 years ago, have shown us that arts can help students learn to read better
and want to read more.
And yet, in place after place throughout our country, I've been told time
and again that the first course that is cut when the budget crunches come are
the arts courses. And any one of us who saw that wonderful movie, Mr. Holland's
Opus, and can remember the kinds of arts programs that flourished all over our
country in the 1950s and 60s, would be astonished to learn how little of that
is now available in many parts of our country to our children today.
We recently tested 8th graders in the arts in our country as part of the National
Assessment of Education Progress, which included arts education. And of course
we found out, unfortunately, that too many young people are not understanding
the arts, not appreciating the arts, and not being given a chance to do even
the simplest kind of arts work. But the good news that we found is that if arts
are provided broadly to all students, not just to those who already show a talent
or have an interest but to every student, then progress can be demonstrably
made and all children can learn in ways that we had not thought possible before.
The report that I am privileged to issue today, called Gaining the Arts Advantage,
is the first national study examining successful arts programs in school districts
across our country. It looked at 91 different districts in 42 states. Now these
districts are very diverse. They spend anywhere from $3,800 to $15,000 per student.
They have anywhere from 1,800 to 340,000 students. But they all had one thing
in common.
The report found that the single most critical factor in creating and sustaining
arts education programs was the involvement of the entire community. Now, certainly
the leadership of the educators whom I have met in looking at the art work that
was done and the room that I visited and seeing the chorus perform—certainly
educators are absolutely critical. But they cannot do it alone. It takes families,
artists and arts organizations, businesses, colleges, civic leaders, cultural
institutions—all of us supporting the arts and our arts educators.
My husband often says that there isn't a problem in America that isn't
being solved by someone somewhere. So I hope this report serves as a roadmap
for every community that wants to bring the arts either back into their schools,
or to understand how to sustain an arts program and build it into the future.
You can look right here to District 25 for an example. You can learn about how
parents have gotten involved and have even, as I learned from the Cohens last
Fall, been engaged in writing grants to be able to get more funding to support
the arts in the school.
District 25 is an example of the partnership that sustains the arts in the
schools. You have benefited from the Annenberg Grants to restore arts education,
as well as support of the New York State Education Department. And you won federal
support from the Title VII Grants and the National Endowment for the Arts. And
it's very significant that the Arts Plus Program with the City Center,
which received federal money for a three-year grant, helped to shape the dance
program that I saw exhibited. The New York State Council on the Arts and the
cultural and university resources of Flushing in New York also enriched your
program. To find this kind of cooperation that brings together all levels of
government, the public and the private sector is exactly the message that this
report tries to get out. We need all the help and support we can get to return
arts to their rightful place within our schools.
But it's not just in big cities and not just in districts like this that
can access the resources I just referred to, but we can find the arts flourishing
in many small and out of the way places. For example, the school district on
the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming has found that community members using
the arts can both educate and pass down their cultural heritage. And then the
high school students from that Indian reservation can see their work exhibited
at the state museum, and local businesses will provide art scholarships to especially
promising students.
You know, Jane talked about my experience in a district that is actually featured
here in the report, where I grew up and went to public school in Park Ridge,
Illinois. All the seniors there are tested in dance, music, theater, and the
visual arts to make sure that they do leave school culturally literate. Now
I remember very well that I could never have passed any dance performance or
singing performance, but if it had not been for my public education, I would
have never heard an opera, I would have never seen a lot of the great paintings
until perhaps I had gone to college or gone away from home. So I was lucky enough
to be exposed to and taught how to appreciate the arts, even though personally
I was not much of a participant. Well, that's also part of the goal. Not
everyone can dance, not everyone can sing or sculpt, but everyone can learn
to appreciate the arts and their contributions to our diverse culture and society.
We need to send a message to all of our children that we value them, that they
are important, that they have skills and talents that we cherish and need in
our society.
Now that means a lot of things. It means making sure that we have enough seats
in enough buildings that are up to speed here in New York and around our country
to take care of the biggest baby boom that we have ever had. We have more children
in school today than we've ever had in the United States, and we don't
have enough classrooms and we have too many old schools that are literally falling
down around our students and our teachers. So we need to be sure that we have
the construction and the maintenance and the support for the physical plans
that will enable our children to learn and to know when they walk in the door
of a beautiful, well-kept school like this, that they are valued.
We also have to be sure we set high standards for students and teachers alike
and to make it possible for every student to get the skills they will need to
be not only a good worker, but a good parent, a good citizen. And that is the
goal of public education, and that is why the arts play such a central role
in fulfilling that role. No one could negate what has happened at this school
in this district. And I hope it does serve as an example for every school in
New York City, New York State, and the United States. I hope that the lessons
that we put forth in this report will be studied and learned from; and that
businesses all over America, community foundations and other philanthropic institutions
will say we can do this, we can make the arts once again alive in the lives
of our students and our teachers, and public education can serve the entire
child.
Now some students don't learn well just sitting and listening. They need
to move, they need to use their hands, they need to be challenged in different
ways. And I hope that as we look toward the new century and even this new millennium
that awaits us, we will understand what John Adams and Plato and other people
going back through history understood so well—that the arts are truly part
of who we are; they define us as individuals; they push our spirits to soar;
they give us a chance to think beyond our boundaries. And by doing so, they
create not just individual opportunity, but they create that wonderful ferment
in society that opens eyes and opens hearts and opens minds.
So this report will encourage school districts all over our country to learn
from this district and the other 90 that are profiled. And I hope that in a
year or two, as the new century is fully under steam, we can come back to a
school like this and we can say that the example you set, the work that you
did not only paid off for the students here, but set a fire that went across
New York City and New York State and our entire country. And that every student
now has the chance, as Kyle was able to demonstrate to us, to stand here with
confidence and pride and talk about what a difference the arts made in his or
her life.
Thank you all very much.
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