A Study of The Development of Art Education in the United States From 1980 to 2010

Based on art education data between 1980 and 2010, I argue that the United States institutions have relegated creativity to a diminished role. Data include the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts Research Report #52 produced by the National Endowment for the Arts, public opinion polls, and educational reports on arts programs. I find that problems occurred when the United States institutionalized the arts, teaching the same lessons repeatedly and recognizing sameness in completed projects as success. I suggest that a prevalent pedagogy based on an art canon has led to the decline in the arts followed closely thereafter by a lack of funding. My interpretation of the data will examine perspectives on the arts to understand how Americans have come to believe they are of lesser value than other subjects. To support my claim I will examine funding, educational programs, and arts participation surveys within the United States. These texts will help locate social contexts and functions of art, declines in and around the arts, and potential strategies to reverse such trends.