Take the Lead

One night shortly before surgery, we watched Take the Lead, a movie about Pierre Dulaine who teaches ballroom dance in the New York City public schools. It was a really good movie, much in the same vein as Finding Forrester or Renaissance Man.

(Warning to those offended by oodles of foul language: the movie is about at-risk kids in a violent neighborhood, and how this man's involvement in teaching them influenced their lives. So the movie may be offensive to some. It's not for little kids.)

Watching movies like this always leaves me pondering the place of culture and the arts in the schools. On the one hand, I think music and the other arts are critical to humanity, and how we think of ourselves, and how we treat each other. These beautiful things should be taught. And yet, when school attendance is mandated by the government and funded by the taxpayers instead of being entirely the responsibility of the parents, there needs to be a realization that we can't do "whatever is best" for "the sake of the children" because then there will be no limits whatsoever on extravagances. Furthermore, there is such diversity of opinion within our society on what constitutes "art" that it doesn't seem good for those battles to be fought out in the schools, influencing the minds of the children. And yet, the benefit that comes from beautiful words and beautiful music and beautiful dance and beautiful paintings is so immense that it would be tragic if children are not exposed to those things.

In spite of being "po' white folk," our family has also been labeled "artsy-fartsy." And thus I never quite know which "side" I'm on when I watch movies like this.