Team+5



- TEAM FIVE - Rachel Booker, Melanie Carlin, Mary Krzystowczyk, Lauren Sczempek, Ally Stewart & Jia Zhang

**//Ideas, Practices, and Approaches Our Countries Share //** All of our countries share the same ideas and practices that tie their culture into their everyday lifestyle and four out our six countries (Armenia, Egypt, Panama and South Africa) provide inadequate art education in the curriculum. All countries have rich individualized cultures, however the problem seems to be in the funding of schools and their ability to include arts into the normal curriculum outside of the core subjects. Much like Egypt, South Africa has an inadequate art education curriculum. This is largely due to that fact that core subjects such as mathematics and sciences are seen as superior to the arts. Especially regarding South Africa, many educational facilities cannot afford supplies for the arts let alone pencils and paper, therefore, art is often neglected or completely eliminated from the curriculum. Armenia and South Africa are two countries in which additional funding is necessary for educational facilities. The education system in both Armenia and South Africa were affected by the government but in different ways. In Armenia, under Soviet rule, education was financed and was high level but when they claimed independence, education fell and struggled with expenses. In South Africa their education system improved once the apartheid ruling government was resolved, however certain schools still struggle to this day. Before there was discrimination against the black race, unable to attend certain schools. There was strong separation in schools and they struggled to become integrated. Although, in private schools, South Africa has high priority in funding and focusing on art education including classes in art, music, dance and gym. They have this opportunity due to the high cost to attend the private institution. All of our countries share art organizations away from the schools that promote creativity for young children, teens and adults. In Egypt, the art organization Mahatat creates a variety of artistic events within the community, performances including dancing to storytelling and provide paint workshops. In-school programs within the Cairo area include assemblies displaying such performances as well as providing dialogue to the students and faculty regarding the importance of artist creativity in culture and diversity. The South African Education and Environment Project is an organization that works with children and educators and specifically offers a program named the Arts Outreach Program, in which students are provided with arts education in visual art, music, dance, drama, photography, creative writing, and film. The program attempts to inspire creativity through self expression and increase access to the arts and opportunities for artistic expression in severely under-reso urced communities. Although this organization is helps to engage some students in education about their culture, it cannot reach all of the underfunded schools in South Africa. The Panama Opera Foundation is an organization that is dedicated to training young talented musicians and provides educational scholarships to go to the USA or Europe. The Armenian Allied Arts Association (AAAA), a non-profit organization, whose primary purpose was and continues to be to encourage and support new talent of Armenian descent. DOMO (German Organization for Mosaic Art) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting mosaic art and carrying out seminars, classes and workshops. All these organizations support the youth in their countries to be more integrated into the arts.  //**Differences That Exist **// It is evident that every country we have studied has a unique culture of their own. Some cultural aspects of countries relate, including styles of dance, or types of art, however they all have certain aspects that separate them and make them unique. Obvious differences exist in the emphasis that countries place on including arts in their education. For example, in Ireland, a high amount of importance is placed on studying creative subjects, and the arts are looked at as equal to other core subjects, such as mathematics and science. For this reason, there seems to be no lack of funding in these areas for Ireland. The Irish view in education is something that is highly reflective of their culture. The Irish are known for having a high quality education system which is built around the idea of being committed to excellence. German students are also given opportunities to study the arts, as government and funding plays a huge role of arts education. A high quality education system is not something that can be said for all of the countries that we studied. In contrast, schools in other countries such as Panama, South Africa and Armenia often have difficulties including education of arts into their curriculum due to lack of funding. Further, some of the schools that we studied still have some degrees of segregation and separation among races in schools. Schools in South Africa and Panama are known to have some levels of separation between races, and not all schools are fully integrated. This is an aspect that is not present in all countries, and the lack of integration poses some potential problems for some students. In South Africa, students who are discriminated against because of their race often attend schools that receive inadequate funding. For this reason, students at risk for discrimination may not be able to exercise their full creative potential, solely because the schools that they attend may be overlooked.

**//Cultural Aspects that Might Impact Creative Expression //** Segregation between classes and/or races can limit an individual’s perspective of their world. When children are denied the proper education and limited cultural interaction with other races and classes, their true creative ability is stunted. South Africa and Panama both tend to discriminate against other cultures or classes. Egypt on the other hand honors their ancestral background and art is a big part of their culture. Growing up in a famous artistic environment can affect education due to the availability of grand art sculptures, paintings, etc. Egyptian schools do not find art an important aspect in educational curriculum and that may be due to its rich artistic history. It is possible that it is assumed all inhabitants know art and is the least of academic concerns. Most countries focus on their economic trouble and changes, leaving little room for art programs and education. Armenia was one of the countries who had a drastic educational change, mainly focusing on preparing students for the workforce. Such changes can direct a student’s attention away from artistic outlets and focus on more socially accepted studies, which also inhibits creative growth and expression. Germany, on the other hand, teaches mainly in art and music for a few years in primary education, after that the arts are optional. Students usually study and follow their desired trade or career at that time, with only a few continuing on in the arts. All in all, the lack of funding, segregation, and appreciation for the arts, are limiting all progress in the arts, and could have a direct impact on creative expression.









**Similarities seen in Armenian, Egyptian & South African Dancing** skdfskdfjskdfjkdkk Traditional Armenian Dances dfsdfjdksdfsff Egyptian Dancing sfsdfskfjskfjkdjkdj South African Dancing sfsdfkjslfdkjsdlkdkkk sdfssdfdfsdfsf media type="youtube" key="3wHjfocCA0s" height="155" width="210"media type="youtube" key="RMGdYkIV9Ww" height="155" width="210"media type="youtube" key="paGBMeCdPyE" height="155" width="210" sdfsdfsdf

Armenian, Egyptian and South African dancing are similar in style by music style, instruments and dance moves vs. **Similarities seen in Irish, German & Panamanian Dancing** sdfjskkkdfs Traditional Panamanian Dancing sdkfljskdfjsdfj Traditional Irish Step Dancing lksjdflksjdfklksjf Traditional German Dancing lsdkkkkk ssdd media type="youtube" key="wlgrIiHJBHg" height="187" width="252"media type="youtube" key="W22gpBv00gg" height="187" width="252"media type="youtube" key="i_Fngpwfp_I" height="187" width="252" These three countries have different music styles and instruments however have similar dancing styles such as line dancing

//**What Surprised Us! **// -I was surprised to see the vast difference in the educational systems of Egypt and South Africa, as they are both African countries, but South Africa is suffering a great deal more in terms of finding funding for education.

-I was surprised to discover that as a result of Armenia's somewhat recent independence as a country, their educational system had to make necessary changes. Changes that included a shift from the Russian to Armenian language, as well as an emphasis placed on solely Armenian culture and history. Unfortunately due to their newly acquired independence, educational funding has been cut so such changes are necessary within the educational system; hopefully in years to come, the changes can include a broader curriculum including the arts within its curriculum.

-What surprised me most about my comparisons was the overall lack of inclusion of arts in educations throughout countries outside of the United States. Although some countries, such as Ireland work hard to make this an inclusion in their normal curriculum, I assumed that due to each countries individual rich culture, there would be emphasis on including arts into the curriculum in every country. I was unaware of the lack of funding for schools that seems to be a problem worldwide. This lack of money towards education in some countries causes schools to be unable to include arts in education. Countries such as Panama, Armenia, South Africa and Egypt all contain rich cultures, yet lack the resources necessary to provide adequate education about the arts in their schools.

-I am really surprised about the differences of education system and concepts between Germany and other countries in our group research. Although the arts education in Germany started early but not important until nowadays is a big surprise to me because I have always think that like other western countries, Germany would have a very modern and efficient art education concept so that the people are very creative and never lack of imagination. However, government control and funding system was the real control behind arts education in Germany.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;">- Much like everyone else, I was surprised to see the differences in the education systems. In reasearching my country, I found that Ireland puts much more emphasis on the arts program in schools than any other country I have looked at previously. They are highly regarded and are seen as equal to science programs. Traditional arts programs include folklore and music which are a large part of Irish culture. In looking at the other countries in the group, I found that the Irish culture seems to be the only one that truly regards arts as something that is fundamentally important.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;">-What surprised me most was not only the education difference seen in the different countries but also how the government worked with the country. I was so surprised by reading about Africa's education system and country how segregated they were because of the Apartheid ruling. I was never aware of this and was shock to see that schools were still segregated in South Africa and that the black race was discriminated against and was unable to attend certain schools. I was not really surprised by the education system in Ireland and Germany because I feel these countries have been established for a while compared to the other countries that their education system has been building over time and be perfected. I was not surprised that Armenia went from high level education before there independence form Russia since Russia was keeping them afloat with money and now that they are independent they need to work together to build up their country. <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">**Countries By Name:** // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rachel Booker - Panama <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Melanie Carlin - Armenia <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mary Krzystowczyk - Egypt <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Lauren Sczempek - Ireland <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ally Stewart - South Africa <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Jia Zhang - Germany