An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse

Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future

Ellen Winner

Maps recurrent pendulum swings between "traditional" and "progressive" approaches to art education in the United States
Features Winner's own observations of art education in China and the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy
Discusses how 21st century art education is informed by both the progressivism of the early 20th century and the practices of contemporary art

An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse

Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future

Ellen Winner

Description

An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse recounts how art education has been conceptualized, taught, and advocated for in the United States in the face of its persistent marginalization in the education system. Tracing various rationales offered from the 19th century onward, Winner argues that art education has failed to be justified as a good in and of itself--and this failure has affected both the status of visual art education in our schools and the quality of its teaching.

Winner's comprehensive book maps recurrent pendulum swings between "traditional" and "progressive" approaches to art education in the United States, supplemented by her firsthand experiences observing art teaching in schools in China and Italy. Despite this problematic and uncertain past, 21st century art education in the United States and abroad has exploded with a wealth of new ideas aligned with the progressivism of the early 20th century and informed by the practices of contemporary art. As Winner details, an understanding of the history of art education, along with a focus on current challenges and opportunities, is essential for arts researchers, educators, and advocates, as well as anyone in the general public who cares about quality education in the 21st century.

An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse

Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future

Ellen Winner

Preface

Chapter 1. A 1982 Journey to Reggio Emilia

Chapter 2. A 1987 Journey to China

Chapter 3. Art Education in 19th Century America: Parallels to China

Chapter 4. The Progressivist Revolt: Parallels to Reggio Emilia

Chapter 5. Two Offshoots of Progressivism: Arts in Education Movement and Aesthetic Education

Chapter 6. Arts as its Own Academic Discipline: Discipline-Based Art Education

Chapter 7. Putting Making at the Center: The Arts PROPEL Alternative to Discipline-Based Art Education

Chapter 8. Standards and Assessment: The Struggle for Authenticity and Reliability

Chapter 9. Shameless Utilitarianism: Arts for Boosting Academic Performance

Chapter 10. Studio Thinking: Teaching for Artists' Habits of Mind

Chapter 11. Reimagining Art Education for the Twenty-First Century (and More Parallels to Reggio Emilia)

Final Words

An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse

Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future

Ellen Winner

Author Information

Ellen Winner is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Boston College, where she taught from 1978 until 2020, served three terms as chair of her department, and directed the Arts & Mind Lab. She is a long-time member of Project Zero, a research group on education and the arts at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She received a B.A. in English Literature from Radcliffe College and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard. Her research focuses on development in the arts in typical and gifted children, arts education, and philosophical questions about the arts that can be addressed empirically. She has published over 200 empirical articles as well as six previous books.

An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse

Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future

Ellen Winner

Reviews and Awards

"Ellen Winner offers a striking history of the vicissitudes of art education in the US: its oscillation between laissez-faire art-making and discipline-based instruction, as well as its growing efforts to nurture the mental habits and practices of authentic artistic engagement among children in today's schools. Both teachers and artists will be fascinated and inspired by her narrative." -- Paul Harris, Harvard University

"If you are a student of art education-or anyone interested in the history of ideas and practices in education--this is the book for you." -- Julia Marshall, Professor Emeritus of Art Education, San Francisco State University

"Why has art education remained on the margins of American schooling? Drawing on her lifelong interest in the arts, a family heritage from Progressive education, and research expertise honed at Harvard Project Zero, Ellen Winner deftly traces two conflicting approaches to art education and identifies key principles that will advance the arts from the sidelines of schooling to the center." --Mary Ann Stankiewicz, Emerita Professor of Art Education, Pennsylvania State University

"Ellen Winner has created a very personal chronicle reflecting upon the evolution of art education that is very different from others. The connections and discord observed in various pedagogies around the wolrd creates a backdrop for reflection that frames her unique representation of the evolution of American Art education." --Douglas G. Boughton, Professor of Art and Design Education, Northern Illinois University

"The book by Prof. Ellen Winner is one of the most passionate, complete and engaging on art education, and to her goes my gratitude. The experience of the infant-toddler centres and preschools in Reggio Emilia and the research about the role of art and expressive languages in learning processes they carried out find here a full and courageous interpretation." -- Carla Rinaldi, President, Reggio Children Foundation