Winter 2003

This information effective for Winter 2003. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Education

[EDUC-120]

120. Aesthetic Education Theory

Winter 2003
Instructor: David Swanger
Office: Crown 211, 459-2768
E-mail: dswanger@ucsc.edu

Course Description:

The class will function as an O.R.G. (Organized Research Unit). Students, working in teams of 3-5, will research several questions during the Quarter, reporting their research to their colleagues. To support this research, class attendance is mandatory.

Additionally, each student will write a term paper on her/his own, pursuing in depth a question of interest to her/him. Each student will submit a draft of her/his paper to a colleague for comment by Feb. 26. The final paper will be submitted along with this colleague's comment.

Resources available to the teams include, in addition to the web, library reference, etc., Essays in Aesthetic Education and The Poem as Process, both by Prof. Swanger, on Reserve at McHenry Library. A copy of the Reader formerly used in this course will also be available from the instructor.

Because this course requires some background in the arts, in independent research and in writing, admission will be by consent of instructor. Please bring a summary of your course background in art criticism, theory, or creative endeavor (any medium) to the first class meeting, along with a sample of relevant writing about art.

Schedule and Suggested Research Questions

(Initials "DS" mean I, rather than students, will lead this discussion.)

Prologue.

1. Aesthetic judgement. What makes some works of art preferable to others? DS

Week I.

1. Are there different kinds of art? Does a fine art/popular art distinction make sense? DS

2. Why aren't all six year olds in America provided a musical instrument and
instruction, and what would happen if they were? Team 1

Week II.

1. What is the imagination and how does it enable art and other endeavors? Team 2

2. What is art? Team 3

Week III.

1. Is there art on television? Team 4

2. What is the relationship between art and the state? DS

Week IV.

Why do kids like Harry Potter books? Team 1

Why does almost no one read poetry anymore? Team 2

Week V.

1. Who are artists? Does being an artist require a different way of thinking? Team 3

2. Why are women represented differently among the arts? Team 4

Week VI.

1. No class: Advising Day

2. What is censorship in the arts? Why is some art censored? DS

Week VII.

1. What are ethnic, cultural, sexual, racial, or other differences among the arts; and what universals, if any exist in art? Team 1

2. What groups in America sponsor or support the arts, and to what extent? Team 2

Week VIII.

1. What is the relationship between biography and method and the work of art? DS

2. How do we judge art? The question revisited. DS

Week IX.

1. Can children be artists? Why and how, or why not? Team 3

2 What are typical and exceptional art programs in schools? Team 4

Week X.

1. What changes ought to take place in aesthetic education? All

2. Last class: ourselves as artists: performances. Course evaluation.