A Hunger for the Artistic in Buenos Aires

November 19, 2013

“Man does not live by bread alone,” affirmed a professor I met in Buenos Aires at Escuela Técnica Raggio, a technical high school with a long standing tradition of the arts, jewelry making, and furniture building. As he showed us the intricate work of his students, he asked, “¿Qué necesidad estética hay para la belleza y el arte? [What aesthetic need do we have for beauty and art?]” He reminded us throughout history humans have expressed this desire, whether it be societies who painted cave walls or fashion designers and musical groups today. His deep connection with art was not an isolated experience, but rather indicative of the values of Buenos Aires as a whole. As part of my program on comparative education and social change, I visited a variety of schools, all of which included art, music, and dance. During my stay, it became clear that art, culture, education, and democracy are interrelated, and each of them strengthens and enriches the others.

Firstly, if you were to imagine an ideal society, would it include art? Would there be museums, murals, concerts, theater, film, architectural wonders, or poetry slams? And would every child or person have access to them, not just those who can afford the price of a ticket? The schools I visited and the porteño culture demonstrated to me the importance of art and its intersection with education in three key ways: education is a personal and collective right, artistic careers are valued, and the absence of standardized testing allows schools to focus on art programs rather than just the traditional curriculum.

The most recent Argentine educational law of 2006, Ley de Educación Nacional, establishes an intimate relation between education and society. For example, the second article states, “La educación y el conocimiento son un bien público y un derecho personal y social, garantizados por el Estado [Education and knowledge are a public good, a personal and social right guaranteed by the State].” Subsequently the law affirms that education is a lifelong right that stimulates creativity, art and culture. As a result, it is well instilled in the population the state is obligated to provide public education to all (including the university level), and that education strengthens the collective social fabric of society.

This focus on the betterment of the collective translates into opportunities to develop art in schools because lawmakers and educators hope students will not only work but live. In contrast to Chile and the United States, where many music and art programs are cut due to the budget or replaced with math and language, in Buenos Aires, art forms an integral part of a student’s day. In Escuela Técnica Raggio, students spend half the day in traditional subjects and half the day in their specialization of furniture making, jewelr, or design. The same goes for Escuela de Danzas “Aída Victoria Mastrazzi,” where students graduate with technical training in dance as well as their regular high school diploma. The advantage is that students possess a common core of knowledge but also a sense of creativity and expression.

Without a doubt, the philosophy of education as a public good and the development of art in schools are complemented by the absence of standardized testing in Buenos Aires. When conversing with educators, they highlight that the sense of fear, evaluation, and competition is not so instilled in society—rather the focus is a sense of collaboration, goal setting, and personal improvement. They are also not so limited to “teach to the test,” which allows them to include art and music as part of their pedagogy. One highlighted that some students express themselves through art, especially if they’ve had a traumatic experience. A music teacher included songs from Peru to connect with his students, over half of which were Peruvian immigrants. Cutting art programs would have drastic effects on these populations as well as affect professors’ teaching.

Returning to Chile, where the national standardized test is in full swing, educators and society must reaffirm the importance of art in schools and its connection with the betterment of the collective. As a school director in Chile said, “How many van Goghs and Cervantes are we killing if we continue on this path? We’re killing human beings.” As he and many others have told me, man does not live by bread alone—there’s something more that sustains us, and the school has a responsibility to cultivate it.

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