Text 1 :Creativity and Academics: The power of an arts education
This text is a blog published on a website called “Edutopia” which displays “key features from New Mexico school of arts”.The blog’s primary target audience is teachers as it is an educational website. The secondary audience are parents. Teachers may come across it as a part of professional development while they are researching for practices for the betterment of their students and parents may come across the blog while researching about the school (New Mexico School of Arts). The text addresses teachers directly at the end of the piece and while it never addresses parents directly, the blurb at the end provides key information about the school, which parents may be interested in if they are looking to enroll their children there. The text’s purpose is to inform its target audience of the benefits of an arts based education primarily, and also promote the school. The text promotes the school using facts and figures at the end of the article and indirectly, by stating that the school supports the arts and then relaying their usefulness. The text challenges dominant discourse by trying to convince the audience that the arts are just as important as academics through the use of empirical and scientific methods and through the narration of personal experiences.
The text tries to influence the audience’s viewpoint of the importance of an arts based education through the narration of personal experiences and emotional appeal which supports the main purpose of the text of relaying the message that the arts are just as important. When the author says, “I had a student…who would not speak…through the act of making music, she…found her voice and place in life”. The author’s use of a real-life example contextualises the benefits in a real life setting while telling the audience that art helps students discover themselves and grow into individuals with a purpose. Secondly, the author uses emotive language to further persuade the readers of arts’ role in an individual’s life. He does so by saying that “A culture without art isn’t possible”.The use of emotive language here strengthens the view that art may help individuals get in touch with their roots. This is important because many families deem that understanding one’s culture is essential to understanding who one is which in turn is crucial to knowing what is important in one’s life. This links to the concept of having a sense of purpose in life. Overall then the usage of emotional techniques helps strengthen the central claim that the arts are to be emphasised upon because they help individuals grow.
The text also challenges the idea that art is not as important as academics because its benefits cannot be quantified. The writer uses the text’s structure to do so. The text is organised into 5 different parts as if the information were in a list. This gives the overall effect of evidence being collected. This technique helps provide more credibility to the central claim of the text. This is because the arts are usually just associated with being more about emotions than concerning quantifiable data. Thus, the division of the blog provides a “scientific” outlook to the audience and makes the benefits of it seem quantifiable. Although it isn’t explicitly clear, the writer uses the sub-heading to support the view that the arts have scientifically proven benefits by mentioning that it increases “self-confidence and self-understanding…improved cognition”. The words “improved’ and “cognition” create the effect of these statements being proven in a study or something likewise. These words helps challenge the notion that the arts benefits have no measurable impact on an individual, as is usually perceived. Thus, the use of a divisive structure and “science related” words strengthens the evidence aspect of the claim that the arts are not to be considered inferior to academics.
Lastly, the text tries to promote the concerned school throughout the text by talking about the benefits of an arts based education and goes on to say that at the concerned school, a dual curriculum(with art) is followed which helps their students excel in life. There is also a small information section at the end which provides information about the “demographics” of the school, number of students enrolled and the fees of the school. This information helps prospective parents understand the school’s background. The fact that the fees is mentioned strengthens the claim that the secondary purpose of the advert is to promote the school, since parents can firstly decide if they have the means to afford the fees because considering additional factors is not useful without taking this factor into consideration. Looking at this information and by reading the article, parents are more likely to have a positive opinion of the school (since it is a diverse school and supports the arts, which were claimed to be beneficial throughout the article), thus be more likely to enrol their children in this school, which fulfils the article’s objective.
In conclusion, the text engages in the usage of both science and emotional appeals to depict the usefulness of the arts to its target audience- teachers and parents. This text may have been to inform and persuade the audience of the central message that the arts are just as important as academics while also encouraging them to reflect on their thoughts about art and its value. The aim was to influence these thoughts for a more favourable view of art and the New Mexico school of Arts. This piece would be interpreted differently in different contexts. It will be interpreted well in many schools because a lot of continued emphasis is being placed on the arts in this day and age. This is more likely to be the scenario in the places where “western ideology” is followed as opposed to “eastern”.Hence, it will not receive a favourable response from the places following “eastern ideology” as these are places where academics has always superseded the arts.