Should Creativity Be Graded?
Art is a subject that Keystone Oaks students, as well as students all around the world, enjoy taking and participating in. Art is an outlet many students use as stress relief and a place to freely express themselves through their work. Not too many students appreciate art and choose it as one of their electives in recent times. Many students enjoy art but think that their work is not good enough or that it will not hold up to a teacher’s standards, leading to possible bad grades. This mentality raises the question: Should Art be Graded?
As many projects do, art projects have many rules and guidelines that need to be followed. These restrictions can help guide students in the right direction, but can also limit a student’s creativity. Setting too many boundaries and rules make thinking outside the box harder and thus restrains a student from creating artwork to their full potential. Students may have brilliant and creative ideas that they may not be able to create or fulfill because it doesn’t fit within the guidelines. If they do implicate these ideas, but it doesn’t fit within the restrictions, students risk receiving unsatisfactory grades for just being experimental.
Art classes in schools are usually available to anyone who may be interested, which may cause a course to have various students who differ in abilities and skill levels. Someone who is inexperienced or has not taken a lot of art courses will most likely not have the same standards of work and outcomes of someone who is more experienced. This lack of more intricate skills can cause students to be given poor grades just because they are not as proficient as other students.
Another issue that arises when art is being graded is the way certain people may perceive a piece of artwork. Some forms of art can be seen in different ways. What some people may think is a profound piece of art, others may not be so impressed. The way we see and think about art varies from person to person. This may cause conflicts or misconceptions when teachers are grading a student’s work. The message or design a student is trying to produce may not be completely seen or understood by a teacher.
When a student’s artwork is graded, it can make or break their self-esteem. Bad marks and grades on artwork tell a student that essentially, their art isn’t good enough. Lower scores on art projects diminish a student’s work and the long hours they spent creating their piece. One bad grade in an art class can cause students to steer away and avoid taking any future classes. Art class is meant to be fun and expand your skills, not to be discredited for your hard work.
Art is a beautiful thing that many people enjoy making or observing. Making art is a relaxing pastime and a passion enjoyed by many students. Students should be allowed to make their best efforts without their art judged based on a point scale. Every piece of artwork is unique in its own way and should always be recognized as so.