Using Art to Inspire Students to Think

Lian Bloch’s head had a fault line running through the center, representing the lack of understanding between teachers and students that she said creates a schism.

Joe Green’s head was blindfolded, a symbol, he said, of the failure of the educational system to open students’ eyes.

The Santa Monica High School classroom was filled with plastic foam heads turned into works of art. Some were mangled and some were marked. Others were adorned with baseball caps and bandages. Each had a point to make.

The 15- and 16-year-old sophomores, expounding on the successes and failures of their school system, were creating art not for art’s sake, said Bernie Massey, co-founder of youTHink, an art-based social issues program.

YouTHink, funded by local nonprofit organizations, uses art as a springboard for discussions about societal ills such as homelessness and environmental hazards. It has been used by teachers in more than 30 California school districts since its Los Angeles inception in 1997.

Carol Jago, an English teacher at Santa Monica High, said she decided to try the program because her students’ essays didn’t allow for vocal and artistic expression.

“This is using art as a metaphor for big ideas,” she said. “Students get so excited about the chance to talk about big ideas. We in fact don’t always give them that chance.”

Presented with the opportunity, her students voiced opinions on school violence, social promotion and affirmative action in the college admissions process. They talked about everything from the Littleton school massacre to the lack of attention they receive from their guidance counselors.

A typical youTHink session begins with a slide show of a provocative work of art. The next step is for students to create their own works of art, using plastic foam heads or cardboard boxes, that convey their feelings about the issues involved.

Massey and youTHink co-founder Esther Netter opened the Santa Monica High discussion with a slide of a sculpture titled “Statistical Theory and Analytical Principles for Non-Math Majors.” In it, two students are sleeping in front of a chalkboard of equations.

“Who is responsible for trying to wake these guys up?” Bernie Massey asked.

“Teachers!” volunteered one student. “Students!” yelled another. “Parents!”

Student Ethan Hutt offered a more detailed answer. “I don’t really believe in teacher accountability,” he said. “You’ll always find students who aren’t motivated. You can’t blame teachers for students who aren’t interested.”

When the discussion in the predominantly white class turned to affirmative action, hands shot into the air.

“I don’t want to be disadvantaged because I haven’t been disadvantaged,” Amos Goodman said. “It all depends on how much you work. There have been success stories from people in inner-city schools.”

Opinions turned when Jago pointed to the row of books, nearly 100 classics, lined up against the walls of the classrooms. “How many of you think that a school in Compton has all these books?” she asked. “What are you going to do? Build a wall around Beverly Hills? We have to take care of everyone’s kids.”

Silence fell upon the room.

“I refuse to believe that it’s fair that when someone from Compton whose family is uneducated gets a 3.6 [grade point average], it’s the same as when someone from Beverly Hills whose parents read to him all the time gets a 3.6,” said Ramsey Bitar. “I think the guy from Compton should get in” to college.

The students argued with one another and with their moderators.

“I think you’re putting an education slant on it [the sculpture] just because it fits into your lesson,” Amos said. “Who knows if this isn’t a warning. ‘Don’t take statistics because you’ll fall asleep!’ ”

After her class’s discussion of education in California, Jago said: “I think this could be a vehicle for the kind of learning that should be there but doesn’t fit into the curriculum. . . . Is it English? Is it history? I think this is a missing piece of our high school curriculum.”

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Eventually, youTHink’s creators hope, the students will take their messages into their communities.

After participating in a youTHink program last year, Sierra Canyon Middle School students wanted to convey the importance of cleaning up the environment. Nearly 200 of the Chatsworth students then spent a day cleaning up Malibu Creek State Park.

Other Los Angeles students who have participated in youTHink are among the hundreds of volunteers creating a monument at the Century City/Beverly Hills gateway for children who are battling cancer, AIDS and other diseases. The monument is a giant mural that adorns a 165-foot-tall oil rig.

Massey, executive director of the Center for American Studies and Culture in Santa Monica, was motivated to create the program after reading about a UCLA survey that said students were concerned with acquiring skills only to make money.

So he decided “to really energize [students] to get involved in the democratic process.”

Throwing contemporary social issues at them, some of which are difficult for even adults to grapple with, is the way to do that, Massey said.

He and Netter, executive director of My Jewish Discovery Place Children’s Museum in L.A., are trying to drum up support among state legislators for youTHink to be offered at all California schools as an elective or part of an arts curriculum.

They acknowledge that fitting youTHink into school curricula may be difficult, especially because arts curricula have been cut or trimmed throughout the country, but they are nonetheless traveling to dozens of schools to pitch the program. Teachers can use it only once or as often as they like.

“To use the method of art as a way of expressing [these ideas],” Netter said, “you often get incredibly profound thoughts out of even the very young kids.”

Netter and Massey train teachers like Jago on how to incorporate youTHink into their classrooms, although they occasionally conduct the youTHink sessions themselves.

Netter and Massey said they are trying to keep the cost to schools per student, now at $1 to $2, at a minimum to make the program more attractive.

Students said they get few chances during the school day to debate ideas the way they did in Jago’s class.

“There’s really no place where we get to discuss social issues,” Ethan said. “The art definitely gives a new aspect to it. It’s a worthwhile medium and a powerful forum to express yourself.”