To the Editor:
In her Dec. 3 letter to the newspaper, Preiscilla Griffith recommended that residents of Virginia’s 34th District elect Craig Parisot as their Delegate for a variety of reasons. One reason in particular caught my attention. She describes Craig is a proponent of STEAM education, because as she claims, “the arts have been left out for far too long in our schools.” I happen to agree with her value of his candidacy with regard to this point. He has the vision to understand how the arts play a key role in developing future innovators. As a resident of McLean, and the Chair of the Arts Department at The Madeira School, I have seen how the processes learned and developed in arts experiences – divergent thinking, the ability to “see,” making connections across disciplines, and manipulating a variety of media and resources to create a finished product, foster the innovative thinking and resilience necessary for a creative and robust workforce. Art is not just for artists anymore. Our students learn more deeply in all disciplines, and especially the sciences and mathematics, when they are:
- Asked to create end-products that demonstrate their learning in a medium of their choice
- Allowed to explore the topic that is meaningful to them
Furthermore, when students, particularly high school girls as we have at Madeira, have the opportunity to apply STEAM learning to real-world problems, the experience becomes that much more rich and executable in their own lives. Steve Jobs is often cited as being a great example of someone who had a vision in technology that was anchored in great design. Education that incorporates arts into science, technology, engineering, and math, can only enrich the future of our children and could ultimately add the creative nuance that makes our lives not only functional and rational, but also beautiful in myriad ways.
Stacie Steinke
Chair, Arts Department, Madeira School