ERFURT. According to the will of Thuringia’s education minister, Helmut Holter (left), there should be no censorship in physical education, music and art lessons.
“Children are valued differently,” he said in an interview with the Thuringia newspaper Funke Medien. For example, grade pressure can inhibit the desire to transfer in many students. “Then you don’t like sports.” Grades are therefore unnecessary in some school subjects if they only assess talent. It still aims for a corresponding change during the current mandate, if possible in agreement with the Conference of Education Ministers. News4teachers / with material from dpa
Voting controversy – Minister of Education: ‘It is not the job of schools to shame and denigrate children’
I wonder what experience he has of actually teaching these subjects? I have taught visual art for 30 years. The students do not come in to ‘play’ and have fun. They come in to learn skills and more importantly, to learn process. They learn how to visually investigate, tease out ideas and find solutions. Some students work exceptionally hard whereas others do absolutely nothing. Talent and hard work are two different things. In my own experience those who continue on into careers in design and the fine arts are those who work very hard. If there are no grades, then what is the point? There is no reason for anyone to work hard. There is nothing to aim for. Students who wish to continue onto a degree in some area of visual art generally need a portfolio which takes a lot of hard work to prepare and can be very competitive. Those who push the hardest attain the most. The less that is expected of students, the less they will do.