bad art and education

Every time I ride past fifty first avenue, I see the old sugar beet factory in downtown Glendale. It's located near some housing projects and industrial warehouses. This afternoon, I began to wish it could be re-established in downtown Phoenix. It doesn't seem to fit within the culture and climate of the overpriced antique-store feel of downtown (can it be called that) Glendale.

I imagine the place differently. It's a huge brick structure and I picture lofts with local artists, large green areas with communal gardens, a coffee shop, some artist studios and a hands-on modern history where students can learn through intergenerational dialogues, artistic expressions and the viewing of primary source documents.

This evening I read a blog from a friend named Quinn. He brought up the fact that beautiful things should belong in ugly places. It made me think of the old sugar beet factory and the fact that Glendale needs art and creativity as much as anyone else.

Then I started to think about education. Peoplerail against the system. Hell, I rail against the system. I hate standardized education just as much as I hate standardized art (or the blending of the two in the form of a "hang in there" kitty or a picture of a man running up a hill)

But here's the rub: You can't change things unless you live within it. That's why monastaries failed so bad and Jesus spent his time with hookers and greedy sellout corporate accountants. The Pharisees called him a sellout and he called them snobs.

I don't deny that it's hard to walk the line of conformity on one side and exclusion on the other. I find it easy to put myself above the pedastal and attempt to be deliberately differnt as a teacher. Sometimes I even dream of starting a charter school where the point of education is not test scores.

But I think good art stands out when it's next to a fuzzy bunny and indie music sounds more indie if it gets air play on the radio and quality teachers seem different when the student just filled out a stack of worksheets in the previous classrom.