Criticism of “Theme and Variations: A Conversation With the President”

In this article Paul Kwak interviews the president of Julliard, Joseph Polisi, about Polisi’s years at Julliard and the arts. They discuss topics ranging from Julliard’s centennial celebration to Polisi’s thoughts on including musical theatre as a performing art in Julliard. Kwak says, “In February, I sat with Dr. Polisi for an hour to revisit some of the topics we had explored in our private conversations. The transcript that follows is a worthy representation of the insights of a man whose gracious and tempered wisdom has become an important part of who I am,” (Kwak). Polisi answers the questions with thought out answers, authority, and knowledge.

I thought the article was very interesting. It also directly addressed a part of my topic:

“PK: What contributes to the undervaluing of arts in America, and is it possible to be optimistic about their future?

JWP: Remember that we've been upset about this undervaluing of the arts for the past 30 years or perhaps longer; the people over 50 filling the seats now were 20 when we were first talking about it. But that said, the undervaluing of the arts comes from a lack of education in the arts at the primary- and secondary-school levels. If you're not exposed to the arts, you are not going to know what they are. President Bush has just announced an initiative on improving math and science scores up to the 12th grade and has given financial incentives to schools, teachers, and students. I think it's a very sad commentary that he didn't even mention the importance of the humanities and the arts as well. Engineers and scientists will play their parts in making the world a better place, but they won't save the world alone,” (Kwak).

I hadn’t realized how long it has been an issue in the art world and I believe that he is right; if you are not involved in the arts in some way then you are not going to understand it as well or feel a connection to it. He also mentions that an increase in the value of engineering and scientists in society contributes to the undervaluing of the arts (Polisi). That makes sense, but I had not thought about it that way. In my experience it feels like if you are not good at math and science then you’re not worth as much, adults in schools seem to want to always push students into a math or science field and exclude history, English, music, or other art related field, especially if they never participated in the arts. In reality though, society needs both to “save the world” as Polisi puts it. I also learned more about Julliard through this article, I have always heard the name and associated it with great musicians, but nothing more, so I thought the article did a good job of relating Julliard to me. So, America does undervalue the arts, but here Polisi gives good ideas that might help improve that, he suggests more art education in the grade school and high school levels, and by teaching the students at Julliard how to be more flexible and to appeal to the audience that they have. In conclusion, engineers and scientists cannot save the world alone, they need artists to help them, or be artists themselves because they could bridge the gap between academics and creativity.

Bellah, Robert, and Chris Adams. "Individualism and the Arts." Christian Century (1993): n. pag. Web. 25 Mar 2010.