There is an old Robert Frost Poem that says that "good fences make good neighbors". And while the premise is just that, and the two neighbors spend their time mending the walls between them, Frost guides us to wonder: just because conventional wisdom says walls and borders and fences are good, does that really make it true?
When it comes to education, I have to think that good fences make for neighbors who are cut off from each other, who don't every really see eye to eye, who don't work together, and are weaker for it. Unless, as Frost suggests, we have cows who need to be fenced in, perhaps we don't really need the fences at all. (*note: I originally came across this analogy in an article by Connie Dalke on art education and special needs inclusion,There are no cows here, 1984)
The prevailing ethos in general education is blending--engaging in multi media experiences, using technology and integrating subjects to create a more holistic learning approach. When we really focus on our learners and their experience, rather than on our teaching and our experience, we see that making connections and integrating subjects really values our learners as a whole. Our learners' brains are not wired with fences between subjects. Our learners' brains are glorious connection making machines.
This is why, when talking about the arts in Jewish education, it is so surprising to me when they get shrugged off. As a synagogue educator I KNOW that we are facing a lack of time, a paucity of resources, and a crisis of disconnection. When forced to make choices, it is easy to see why "the arts" may fall off the list of offerings. And yet, ESPECIALLY because we are so limited, we NEED the arts even more.
I am not talking about adding craft projects to an already overloaded schedule. While there is a time and a place for making kiddush cups and challah covers, this is not what I am referencing. What I am talking about is arts integration--using arts based techniques to help teach and reflect on core curricular topics. In this model, the arts are used as a tool for teaching and reflection. In our settings, when we teach Torah and reflect on relationships by acting them out, or by giving voice to a silent character, this is using the arts to further our learning. When we create T'fillah (prayer) Stones that reflect on our intentions when we enter into prayer, or when we illustrate our own prayer books, this is arts integration. When we slow down, focus on the process of learning and creating, rather than the speedy accumulation of skills, we are using the lessons of art integration.
Our students are interested in meaning---they want to know about relevance. And so while skills and literacy are building blocks that we cannot do without, if we do not provide them with context, with an opportunity to slow down and consider their relevance, then we are providing tools for a job (being Jewish), that our students may never choose to take on.
Not to be too dire, but the reality we are facing is one in which our students KNOW that Judaism is a choice, are often frustrated with the time they are spending on learning about that choice, and, given a lack of context, meaning or relevance, may very well end up making a different choice about what they believe or how they live in the long run. We are fighting a battle for survival, and no amount of dikduk (Hebrew grammar), or ritual divorced from real life experience is going to help us.
In the long run, our only choice is to educate towards greater spiritual engagement, to explore moral education, to present our tradition in terms of the great human desires: for belonging, for creative exploration, for moral development, for connection. When viewed with this lens, we know that Judaism and Jewish Education have much to offer. And there is no field more ready to help take this on in real, human ways, than the arts.
When engaged in the arts, our students are able to slow down, to consider the many sides of a topic. The arts help us to think about meaning in metaphorical terms. They inspire us (even require us) to make our own connections. The use of stories, dramatic interpretations, the creation of prayer imagery, the reconstructing of Biblical relationships, are all ways to make learning come alive. Our students are thirsty for this kind of learning. It is our job to provide it for them.
