Starting with next year’s incoming freshmen, WHS will require students to take at least one year of fine arts courses during high school to graduate. The Wayland community should embrace this change, but be prepared for some backlash.

At their best, fine arts courses are fun, informative and relaxing.

I took metalwork and drawing during my sophomore year, and relished the break from constant instruction. Working with my right brain was a relief after endless “traditional” courses. Ideally, the fine arts curriculum changes will allow more of the student population to have a similar experience.

The danger of this change, however, is the resentment that yet another required course might cause. The new requirement might turn fine arts classes from a voluntary pleasure to a necessary evil.

A math-lover might see performing arts as a waste of time. A talented writer might resent being forced to spend time learning drawing skills he or she will never use.  Until now, if you were taking a fine arts course, it was because you wanted to take it.

Because of this requirement, fine arts teachers will see more of the kind of student they might otherwise have avoided: the uninterested, the uncaring and the bored.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely thrilled that at a time where many schools are cutting back on their fine arts or eliminating them altogether, Wayland is growing its program.

Many of the planned curriculum changes, such as the plan to cover functions of Garage Band in the Music Theory class, will start to bring the Fine Arts Department into the digital age.  But if the cost of growth is turning art into another mandatory course, maybe it’s better to keep it small and voluntary.

Get all of the details on the new fine arts requirement »