When I was registering for classes before starting high school, I took a good, long look through the big online coursebook. My mom even printed out some of the sections so I could mark them up. I knew I was going to take visual arts, but looking through the book revealed so many more options. However, not many of them were even offered at East.
At Chapel Hill High, they have courses such as Adobe Visual Design, as well as Dance, Marching Band and several others that East doesn’t have. Chapel Hill High also offers the Arts Focus Academy.
Art also doesn’t attract the same number of students as other CTE courses, as it doesn’t offer honors right away.
“There are students who come to this school with their whole four years mapped out and will never step foot in an arts class,” art teacher Elaine Algarra said. “There are students who will always play the GPA game.”
The state is moving towards more proficiency placement, meaning that a middle school or high school student can be recommended to be placed in a higher level class. This step may promote a future for East where there are more options for art classes.
Although there is an art requirement for graduation from Chapel Hill schools, the stigma around taking an art class every year, for example, can become exhausting to hear. Art is often not viewed as an adequate career, especially in such a STEM-focused environment.
“Creativity is critical thinking,” said Algarra. “Looking is critical thinking. Art is connected to life and deals with social emotional learning.”
East in particular doesn’t offer some of the same arts classes as other schools in our district. The thing is, art is growing as a career in the world with increasing digital jobs and taking art classes isn’t going to prohibit someone from getting into the top schools of the country.
