What Should Young People Be Taught about Theatre and what Principles Should Guide the Pedagogy - Essay Example

The Department of Culture, Media and Sports Taking Part Survey found that only 36% from the previous 55% of primary schools students attend after school music lessons; and for theatre and drama classes, the number of students dropped from 49% to 33%. Finally, for dance lessons, the number of students decreased from 29% from 45% (Lyons, 2014, para.1).Giving less priority to cultural education can be saddening, and this is echoed by Harriet Harman, Shadow culture secretary who lamented that the future talents of Britain are being robbed.

She explained:“Taking part in art and culture is a vital part of a child’s education and helps them develop their full potential. But we are seeing a serious fall in the amount of art and culture children are able to take part in.” (Lyons, 2014, para. 7).This just emphasises how important it is to inform people about the importance of including Cultural Education in the school curriculum. Henley (2012) advocates it because cultural education allows children to gain necessary knowledge through the learning of facts.

Children develop an understanding of culture by developing their critical faculties and skills through their active involvement in various art forms and activities related to these. However, cultural education does not get as much priority as literacy and numeracy. The development of the National curriculum emphasized the development of academic skills more than the arts so schools focus Math and Reading so that their students can perform well in standardized tests.It is my opinion that the arts should get the same attention in the curriculum since it addresses the strengths of some students who may not be as skilled in the academic subjects.

 According to Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence theory (1983), all people have something to excel at, and being smart above the rest is not limited to those who do exceptionally well academically.  It is comforting to think that if one has an aptitude for music, for instance, and is weak at math and science, then he can still excel at something creative and non-academic.