SOME PROBLEMS OF FINE ART AND GENERAL EDUCATION AT WEBER STATE COLLEGE / Arthur Adelmann The role of the fine arts at our college has indeed been negligible. The fault lies not only with the attitudes of the state government, public school system, "Mormon Church," the administration, faculty and public, but also with the artist and teacher himself. The responsibility of art requires an administration of enlightened cosmopolitanism, humanism, confidence in expression and communication, community interest and money! For many years the state government refused to spend any money whatsoever on education. It is only within the past couple of years that this policy has at all been changed. A government that is unwilling to spend money for education is ignorant of the value of education. Meanwhile, the academic levels of our schools rank lower and lower. In a recent evaluation, Utah public schools rated 45th in the nation. They could not possibly sink much lower. Naturally, we cannot expect our colleges to be too far ahead of the public schools, unless some miracle is supposed to occur in the transition between high school and college. Utah colleges are trying desperately to up their standards, but will not be able to compete successfully with the rest of the nation until public school standards are also greatly elevated and normalized. High schools seem not yet to have realized what will be expected of their graduates. There is, as yet, no strong co-ordinating faction between the public schools and the colleges. Colleges should be able to require certain desirable and necessary background for their students from all public schools. There is no excuse whatsoever for colleges having to waste their time, money and talents giving courses in freshman composition, spelling, grammar, introductory courses in art, music, foreign languages and literature. Our children and teenagers are being greatly underestimated; they are being cheated by a namby-pamby, careless public school system cheated of the opportunity to acquire basic essentials which will help them to move easily and confidently from high school to college, cheated of the opportunity to work successfully in superior colleges outside Utah. They are cheated of the opportunity to learn how to respond productively to rigid demands. European schools have proven that a youngster of elementary and high school age can better respond; is naturally more receptive to such studies as art, music, mathematics and foreign languages than is the adult. Consequently the exam which European high school students receive upon graduation is on the level of work expected of our bachelor's degree recipients. It is unfair to shock young people so cruelly as our school system does when they enter college. Suddenly they are expected to spell, to read, to write, to think for themselves (something previously almost unheard of). They are suddenly in competition with students of more superior acedemic backgrounds from all parts of the state, nation, and world. The shock kills many robs them of self-dignity, confidence and hope. All too many fail not because they lack 10 the necessary intellectual capacity, but rather because they lack the necessary previous training in very basic skills. Students not deserving a high school diploma should not receive one mainly because it is entirely unfair to them and to their futures. If schools do not give students the tools to compete successfully (in whatever world or discipline they may be entering) then the schools have failed and deserve to have higher demands placed upon them. Needless to say, the fine arts painting, sculpture, drama, music, literature and architecture have suffered right along with all the rest of the so called "funeral education" in Utah. The arts have suffered perhaps even greater neglect and deprivation than its students because of a generally unenlightened community. A community which lacks the knowledge and appreciation of the arts; a community which equates cheap and vulgar calendars with great master-works; sculpture with soap carvings and great music with the latest in hit tunes; literature with religious tracts and local newspapers. They equate great and noble architecture with our most recent campus buildings (cracking and deteriorating already) and the most recent and monstrous edition to the Temple Grounds. Again, there are exceptions but exceptions are not the rule and the rule has obviously held sway over our schools. The "money lenders" who help support many of our institutions of higher learning also subject these institutions to their (often unenlightened) ideas, ideals, religion and moral convictions. This is grossly unjust especially in the case of a state institution which receives state and federal support. In such a case the attitude of the school should comply much more with the more universal and liberal attitude of state institutions throughout the nation. Federal aid should not be supporting religious motives of any particular faction. The inclusion of a prayer (derived from one particular faith) has no place in a faculty-staff meeting in a state college. In a religious institution yes, but Weber State College is technically no longer such. Forced prayer is an affront to the members of a captive audience who may be of other religious convictions. A faculty meeting without prayer could be just as real and desirable. "Mormons" may be, in practice, the majority religion of Utah but it is not technically allowed by the federal constitution to be the religion of Weber State College. As already mentioned, school policies seem all too frequently to be determined by the source of funds. An administration relying on that particular source for funds must be careful not to offend that source by its attitudes or content of instruction. Much of the deprivation of the fine arts has been caused by the unwillingness of the artist-teachers to truly involve themselves in the community (civic and school) and in their failure to speak out freely and confidently about their needs, objectives and demands. If the community, if the state, if the church, if the administration are not entirely informed of the whole range and history of art, of the many possible and desirable functions of art (besides the making of signs and floats), of all important contemporary developments in the arts (and their specific intent), then they should either inform themselves or admit their ignorance. They should give their support so that at least future generations can be presented the opportunity to live broader, deeper and richer lives. It is not enough to judge works of art from all nations and times on the basis of uninformed opinion, and the religious morality of any particular sect. This is all too weak a foundation for a just evaluation or appreciation of art. The only fairly valid criticism is an informed, enlightened one, based upon a 11 (continued on next page)