Research for Existential Choice

Chet Bowers (1984) has developed a theory of how a critical consciousness of our cultural typifications can be developed through an in-depth and elaborated understanding of aspects of a given situation or problem. In this paper, his theory is applied to the role research plays in art education. It is proposed that our existential choices in art education are directly proportionate to the amount and complexity of the research we have available and the extent to which we understand and can apply this research for specific purposes. The lack of research in essential instructional areas as well as the lack of formalized debate regarding major changes in the field of art education suggest that, rather than critical consciousness, art education is currently subject to limited perspectives that are controlled by a select few

The density of primes in orbits of z^d + c

Given a polynomial f(z) = z^d + c over a global field K and a_0 in K, we study the density of prime ideals of K dividing at least one element of the orbit of a_0 under f. The density of such sets for linear polynomials has attracted much study, and the second author has examined several families of quadratic polynomials, but little is known in the higher-degree case. We show that for many choices of d and c this density is zero for all a_0, assuming K contains a primitive dth root of unity. The proof relies on several new results, including some ensuring the number of irreducible factors of the nth iterate of f remains bounded as n grows, and others on the ramification above certain primes in iterated extensions. Together these allow for nearly complete information when K is a global function field or when K=Q(zeta_d).Comment: 27 page

A Modernity-Postmodernity Dialectic on Men in Feminism

In my discussion of men in feminism, I will focus on this topic in terms of art educators employed in higher education. My comments are based on the assumption that feminism and its attendant values, attitudes, and behaviors are seen as something that men, in some way, react to, adjust to, or, just plainly, take into consideration at this time in history. An ostensibly neutral stance is not possible - ignoring feminism is itself charged with value judgments. Questions, however, arise as to how an optimum state of sex equity and gender consciousness might occur and what relationships men would have toward feminism given the current character of academia and, specifically, of art education faculties. I will use the terms adaptive, separatist, and androgynous as descriptors of how women relate to male-dominated academia. Conversely, these same descriptors also provide perspectives on how men relate, or could relate, to feminism

Modern Fine Art: A Vehicle for Understanding Western Modernity

While art curricula are not without reference to twentieth century fine art, the social significance of modern fine art has been a neglected area of study. The purpose of this paper is to survey and review the model characteristics of modern society and modern fine art. Striking similarities are revealed in such a review which strongly suggest that a study of modern fine art in art education could serve to problematize both the social origins of modern fine art and the values of Western modernity

Thinking the Right Stuff: Types of Academic Reality in Art Education

The purpose of this paper is to examine types of academic reality in graduate education and how the accepted ones come to be considered as exclusionary and correct ways to understand the field of art education. It is proposed that socialization processes in graduate programs offer attractive rewards to those who become proficient in the manipulation of selected types of knowledge construction and modes of inquiry. The following aspects are discussed in terms of how they contribute toward the shaping of academic consciousness: (1) socialization procedures of graduate art education, (2) the failure of even reflexive modes of inquiry to make graduate experiences relative, and (3) assumptions shared by art educators and other New Class intellectuals. The socialization procedures of graduate art education are discussed within the framework of a social theory of knowledge distribution

Developmental Models of Artistic Expression and Aesthetic Response: The Reproduction of Formal Schooling and Modernity

Developmental models of artistic expression have had a major influence on research and curriculum in art education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics and assumptions of artistic expression and aesthetic response developmental models. It is proposed that developmental models purported to be descriptive and to have widespread, if not universal, application are socially embedded and prescriptive of outcomes that are highly consistent with characteristics of formal schooling and with the values of modernity. Information for this theoretical study is based on selected literature on the following: (a) developmental models in art education, (b) characteristics of modernity, and (c) everyday/local art experiences

The Cultures of Aesthetic Discourse (CAD): Origins, Contradictions, and Implications

Art has long been accepted as comprising a visual language that communicates cultural values and qualitative meanings through its subject matter, functions, and stylistic characteristics. However, not until this century has visual art also been considered as a language system of signs and symbols amenable to systematic verbal analysis and evaluation. Consistent with this development, in recent years art educators have increasingly proposed that art instruction include various art criticism activities. This author personally considers an interest in art criticism to be a positive development for the field of art education inasmuch as it offers a much-needed counterbalance to the now-predominant emphasis on studio production. Moreover, if art education is to be in the educational mainstream and to have an equal share of the budgetary pie, art instruction will need to have a strong verbal component that will render it fairly compatible with the goals and instructional methodologies of general education. Art criticism meets this requirement in that it depends on a specialized language code requiring formal instruction

The Art Educator as Disenfranchised Intellectual: A Problem of Social Legitimation

In this paper the occupational role and options of art educators are examined with the discussion generally limited to those art educators that have doctorates or prospects of university employment. On the basis of a theory that artistic knowledge comprises a form of cultural capital, it is proposed that the art educator is able to exercise power to the degree aesthetic capital is legitimated in modern society. It is further proposed that the art educator is particularly vulnerable to the Western world view wherein conditional legitimation is given to affective knowledge modalities and nonquantifiable learning. As a result, art educators often have been disenfranchised from exercising the full range of their educational expertise and have experienced varying degrees of professional alienation

Art Education’s Movement Toward Core Curriculum Membership

Art educational at this time provides a unique opportunity to observe and analyze how a field of study presents rationalizations and takes certain actions to acquire some of the more traditional characteristics of general education. The manner in which art testing has been proposed will serve as a specific example of how quantification, accountability, and predictability of learning outcomes are being used to legitimate art study as a discrete discipline with core curriculum status. To examine legitimating characteristics and processes, the following will be discussed: (a) current trends in art education, (b) characteristics of general education, (c) relationships between current trends in art education and characteristics of general education, and (d) the testing of art learning as a specific rationalization and action taken to acquire general education characteristics and core curriculum membership (CCM)

Outsiders and Taboo Subjects: The Horseflies of Art Education

Both individuals and groups may take on outsider status depending on the extent they deviate from social norms and the extent they act as critics of society. In this paper, the role of art education outsider individuals and groups and the taboo subjects they discuss are examined in relationship to the norms of the policy-making institutions of art education. It is proposed that not only are outsiders necessary for maintain the health and integrity of the field, but also that outsider status might be considered a desired state of being in that it allows individuals to exercise choices and freedoms that are denied more secure and protected insiders