The Arts in Schools - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

78literature and put money and resources into art andmusic. All of these changes cumulatively transformedthe school within three years. There is it seems to me adirect link between the attitudes of students and theplace that the arts occupy in the life of the school.All the arts subjects are governed by discipline andthis is the feature which is most often forgotten. Butthe ballet dancer, the musician in an orchestra, the writerstruggling for the exact phrase will know the meaning ofdiscipline. In most of the areas the discipline embracesthe mind and the emotions and the body. This is not thediscipline that relies on a display of strength but whichdepends upon the skill of creating something. Successfulteachers in literature or music or drama all offered anddemanded quality with no concessions. Demands weremade: there was pride in standards, skill and attainment.As in all education, expectations rule. As a headmaster Ihave found that the important thing is to give my teachersof drama, art and music, the rooms and the timetablethey need. Drama done in odd periods must be inconclusive.By the time the teacher has obtained the atmospherehe wants, the bell goes and the work is broken off.At my second school, money and resources includingteaching strength were also put into the arts. This wasbecause the creative experience in these areas developedconfidence and satisfaction for the students. It was becausethey developed powers of expression and communication,sensitivity and responsiveness.I have no doubts, having applied this principle to threeschools, that good arts teaching brings in a tone of greatersympathy and understanding. Pupils are more responsive.It is possible to move them with words. There is not inthem that hardness which breeds hardness. When I firstcame to my present school, I was staggered by the aggressivenessand roughness of the students. Now, five years later,that is gone. I attribute much of that to the effects of artsteaching. Where students are more sensitive to atmosphereand speech, the teachers in all subjects have an easiertime. Among the greatest virtues the arts offer is the risein self-esteem that comes from creation. As a studentstruggles to express him/herself or communicate throughthe arts, that sense of identity eliminates the desire to benoticed in less attractive ways.I have always been proud of the record my schoolshave had for lack of aggression and vandalism. So in my20th year of Headship I am running a large ComprehensiveSchool in which the Arts Faculty — responsible for music,drama, and art — has 12 teachers and over one sixth of