My Letter to Kosasky...Draft One

Hi all,

Well, needless to say, I'm just as angered and disturbed and upset by this as everyone else in the SAES dance community.  

I told Sarah about an a paper I had been assigned earlier this year.  I was instructed to write a letter to the head of an organization in order to instate a change in policy.  So, I decided to write Mr. Kosasky about the arts program at St. Andrew's.  Though it doesn't focus on just dance, I thought it might be a good jumping off point.  I researched it pretty heavily (though I now have more to do because of the current situation), but I obviously welcome any other information anyone else might have.  

So, for your enjoyment, my incredibly long letter to Mr. Kosasky (works cited included!  Yay!).  PS, sorry if the layout gets all screwy!

Dear Mr. Kosasky,
I am writing to you not merely as an alumnus, but as someone with the utmost respect for and enthusiasm towards St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. First and foremost, I am forever thankful for the experience with which St. Andrew’s has provided me. I feel that I have been far more than adequately prepared for college and have been taught countless life’s lessons—both academic and otherwise. The academics at St. Andrew’s are truly outstanding, as are all the teachers. However, I have been and am still worried about the arts program.


St. Andrew’s is an institution dedicated to the apprehension of knowledge and the creation of well-rounded students, an ideal deeply seeded in the school’s mission statement. As you know, the school philosophy, as stated by the Board of Trustees, outlines the “Four Pillars”—the idea that St. Andrew’s “strives to challenge and support all of its students in a balanced program to nurture their academic, artistic, athletic, and spiritual growth” (Board of Trustees). The academics at St. Andrew’s are truly top-notch, something that is only augmented by all the incredible, enthusiastic, and supportive teachers. The numerous Mid-Atlantic Conference and Independent School League banners hanging in the gym indicate that our athletics have been excelling at record speed. Spiritually, St. Andrew’s does a fantastic job at creating a deep understanding of not only the Christian faith in its students, but an understanding of other faiths as well. Artistically, however, there seems to be an odd disconnect.

Though the arts program is neither lacking in enthusiasm nor talent, there is a difference in how seriously the arts are taken versus the ever-improving reputation of St. Andrew’s sports teams. With the recent addition of comfortable outdoor field seating and, of course, the new turf, there need to be improvements done to the arts department on the same level. And, for a school that claims to have a curriculum displaying something “more than academic rigor”, this should not be taken as an outlandish proposal.

These improvements can be easily achieved by a simple and quite small redistribution of donations to the school for the immediate and otherwise short-term benefits, as well as a fund to help create a stage. However, before going fully in-depth about this proposal, it is important to understand the complete importance of a holistic arts education.

The arts, as you are well aware, have been a pervasive issue amongst educators for quite some time. With funding for arts programs constantly in jeopardy of being cut in the public school system, there have been frequent cries of help to try to salvage the benefits of visual art, music, dance, and theatre education as evidenced by organizations such as VH1’s Save the Music Foundation and the Ad Council’s Americans for the Arts campaign. This still begs the question: why bother with the arts, and what exactly are the benefits?

In the mainstream, these benefits are most typically applied to either students under high school age or at-risk students; however, they absolutely apply to and can benefit every type of student. In fact, Americans for the Arts describes that, in a study conducted by Stamford University professor Shirley Brice Heath, students who are engaged in the arts are “4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement,” as well as twice as likely to read for leisure, three times more likely to be a class officer/leader, and are even “4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair” (qtd. in Americans for the Arts). Furthermore, it has been proven that, in a recent College Board study, “students of the arts continue to outperform their non-arts peers on the SAT, according to reports by the College Entrance Examination Board” (qtd. in “Why Music Education?”).
With such a wide span of possibilities as a result of arts education, it may be difficult to digest these facts. Where do the arts collide with academics in order to create a more perfect curriculum? What exactly is the correlation between the disciplines? These are complicated questions that even the most experienced educators—such as you—need to carefully dissect, discuss, and consider.

To derive the most insight from these questions, each artistic discipline needs to be looked at separately. Take, for example, music education and its close relationship with mathematics. Thomas Fiore of the University of Chicago states that, “Music and Mathematics are intricately related” due to not only the obvious connections such as beats, measures, and holds, but down to the nature of instruments themselves and their correlation with sound wave and frequency equations (Fiore, 5). Additionally, the National Association for Music Education (MENC) reports that, according to an article by Christopher M. Johnson and Jenny E. Memmott of the University of Kansas, students who are in “top-quality music programs” score nearly “20% better in math than students in deficient music programs” (qtd. in “Why Music Education?”). The importance of music education, however, does not end with the benefits surrounding math and science.

MENC also reports that music education can both provide and finesse a student’s ability to study effectively—a time management skill that will last throughout academic, personal, and professional life. Additionally, music education can also “transfer to…communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum” and can help “students learn to work effectively in the school environment” (“Why Music Education?”). These skills can be acquired in both visual art and performing art education as well.

In addition to the arts’ ability to improve cognitive skills on a broader level, they can also progress students’ dexterity in specific subjects. In his book Art and Cognition, Arthur D. Efland of Columbia University explains that the visual arts, like science, math, and other academic subjects, “require active engagement rather than passive perception”. Efland also describes the importance of visual art education in relation to the theory of multiple intelligences. The theory states that there are a total of seven separate intelligences that “operate[s] with a symbol system that is uniquely its own, with many of these systems involving the [visual] arts”. The theory of multiple intelligences, then, suggests that a “wider representation of the various intelligences…would widen the range of cognitive abilities exercise,” which would then balance a curriculum (Efland, 170/157). Because the levels of performance required for art is equal to that of the sciences and humanities, instruction in the arts can only aid in a student’s cognitive expansion.

The performing arts add another integral aspect to any curriculum. On their website, the Arts Academy of Hollywood explains that the performing arts not only “inspire self-confidence [and] self discipline,” “…develop critical skills for life and work,” but also “promotes development of literacy, higher order thinking and problem solving”—all of which are skills needed to excel academically (“Arts Education Benefits”). Even St. Andrew’s own and longtime dance teacher Debby Kanter explains that the integration of dance in an academic setting “provides kids with an outlet for creative expression, which can help them express themselves in their everyday life,” making for mentally healthy students (Nesmith). Talent in the performing arts at St. Andrew’s is bountiful; however, this talent cannot be fully used to the student body’s benefit if the performing arts are not made more attractive through funding—something the school needs to do in order for the arts to be taken more seriously.
The evidence is clear: the arts play an integral role in education. They provide a chance for students to activate both the left and right sides of the brain, making the educational experience holistic and thus producing well-rounded individuals. While St. Andrew’s strives to create a community grounded in the Four Pillars, the arts program has constantly received the most criticism.

In an issue of The Mane News from 2005, then sophomore Emily Weiss, known for her voice and guitar playing, proclaimed that the administration had done “a horrible job” in supporting the arts. She continued to state, “For the most part there are scheduling conflicts with sports and the administration is not sensitive to the arts”. Furthermore, then junior Jeremy Rosenberg, pianist, stated that “for a private school, the administration could be doing a lot more than they are now” (“The Kids in the Hall”).

Though these students’ opinions are from nearly four years ago, the issue remains pertinent in the St. Andrew’s society and, quite frankly, should have never been an issue at a school that costs approximately $24,000 a year with a $6.55 million endowment and over $3 million in donation in 2007-2008 alone (Development Office 2007-2008, 21).
In the St. Andrew’s 2007-2008 Annual Report, a page stands out from the rest with a large, bolded “$3,000,000” atop body text. Underneath this huge sum of money—the total donations made last scholastic year—is a budgeted list pointing to where that money went. Amongst this list are some fine causes, such as “financial aid for faculty children”, “employee medical and dental insurance”, and “academic technology”. On the other hand, nowhere on this list—or any other list in the report—are the arts mentioned; however, there is a spot for the “Interscholastic sports program” (Development Office 2007-2008, 16).
It is well understood that sports are as crucial to an academic environment as the arts, for they provide not only physical wellbeing, but also team building and other communication skills. However, the Annual Report points to a large discrepancy in funds—and even recognition. None of the Annual Reports from 2005 to 2008 show any acknowledgment of the arts; they do not even get their own category. Rather, the arts are generally lumped in with “Student Activities” (Development Office 2005-2008).

Mr. Kosasky, all I am advocating is equality between the Pillars. This can only be achieved, in this case, by financial means.
The 2007-2008 Annual Report shows that, from the $3 million received in gifts, $135,000 was spent on the interscholastic sports program (Development Office 2007-2008, 16). In order to make small yet important improvements to the arts program as a whole, this money needs to be more properly distributed.

For example, to maintain certain things such as the guitars in the music rooms, a certain number of extra strings should be purchased at the beginning of each year, which, went bought in bulk, are not overwhelmingly expensive. In fact, the Guitar Center sells 25 full sets of acoustic strings for $84.99, which saves around $260 if the packs were to be bought separately (“Guitar Center”). 25 sets of strings would ensure that the music department’s six guitars would be in top condition throughout the scholastic year. Each guitar could snap all six strings about four times before the pack would run dry, and that is all for a fraction of the cost of one student’s books. Students who play instruments that are not taught in classes at St. Andrew’s are responsible for their own, making the amount of money redistributed to the arts bountiful. With more money, the dance and theatre companies would be able to have an increased ability to create or buy new costumes and purchase new props. The visual art studios could have a constant supply of nice brushes and paints. I am not asking you to cut sports funding in half—rather, I am asking you to be more mindful in the creation of budgets, especially when you are dealing with one of the Four Pillars.

Not only should a redistribution of gift money be implemented, but a fund should be started to create a stage. Out of several prestigious DC-area private high schools including Sidwell Friends, Georgetown Day School, and Maret, St. Andrew’s is the only one lacking a stage. Not only is this troubling in terms of competition, but also even in terms of health as, for instance, dancers need a more resilient surface on which to practice and perform. The sprung floors in the dance studio provide dancers with the needed resilience; however, the linoleum floor in MacDonald Hall—even when covered with marley—does not. Additionally, the absence of a stage makes the arts seem “not nearly as important as sports, who just got new turf,” as a current St. Andrew’s student (who wishes to remain unnamed) said in a recent interview (Nesmith).
In order for St. Andrew’s students to become involved in the arts and reap all the benefits an art education has to offer, the current program needs to be taken more seriously. The visual arts department is fortunate enough to have a fantastic space in the Kreeger Gallery (as well as every wall in the school)—their stage. However, the performing arts and music departments are left out, as the St. Andrew’s “stage” is a linoleum floor. To ameliorate this situation, a fund must be established in order to eventually build a stage for our school’s incredibly talented actors, singers, dancers, and instrumentalists.

A stage at St. Andrew’s would not only transform the arts program and make it appear as credible as it actually is today, but it would also make the school much more competitive in relation to other area private schools. The stage would make St. Andrew’s much more appealing to students already interested in the arts, as well as pique the interests of other students who have not yet been fully exposed to the arts. And, as the babies of the Baby Boomers are either already in college or applying to college—meaning, of course, a possible huge decline in the amount of younger students from a new generation—St. Andrew’s needs to become as competitive as possible to generate a constant flow of new students and ensure the future of the school for years to come.

Students are just as likely to find their calling in an arts class as they are in a science class or on the field. With adjustments to funding for the arts, St. Andrew’s can ensure that its students can exceed the standards of the Four Pillars. This will provide students with not only more diverse career choices, hobbies, and interests, but also a more satisfying and well rounded education—a foundation on which successful and fruitful lives can be built.





Works Cited
"Arts Education Benefits." Arts Academy of Hollywood. 25 Nov. 2008 .
"Arts Education Facts." Americans for the Arts. 3 Aug. 2007. The Ad Council. 8 Nov. 2008 .
Board of Trustees. "School Philosophy." St. Andrew's Episcopal School. Apr. 2008. St. Andrew's Episcopal School. 8 Nov. 2008 .
"Dance Education." National Dance Education Association. 21 Nov. 2008 .
Development Office 2005-2006. St. Andrew's Episcopal School Annual Report 2005-2006. St. Andrew's Episcopal School.
Development Office 2006-2007. St. Andrew's Episcopal School Annual Report 2006-2007. St. Andrew's Episcopal School.
Development Office 2007-2008. St. Andrew's Episcopal School Annual Report 2007-2008. St. Andrew's Episcopal School.
Efland, Arthur. Art and Cognition : Integrating the Visual Arts in the Curriculum. New York, NY: Teachers College P, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2002.
Egan, Kieran, and Dan Nadaner. Imagination and Education. New York, NY: Teachers College P, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1988.
Fiore, Thomas M. Music and Mathematics. University of Chicago.
"Guitar Center." Guitar Center. 25 Nov. 2008. .
"Kids in the Hall." The Mane News 7 Jan. 2005: 5.
Nesmith, Kaytee M. "St. Andrew's Students' and Teachers’ View of the Arts Program." Personal interview. 21 Nov. 2008.
"Why Music Education?" MENC. 2007. The National Association for Music Education. 20 Nov. 2008 .