Professor Judith Burton said art education for only a few can send the wrong message.  Burton witnessed the anger felt by schools excluded from arts funding when she acted as a consultant in Boston and New York City.  Rather than privileging a select audience, she said art education should be "a basic provision for all children."

Art magnet schools may seem to send just the opposite message.  "Having worked with a number of arts magnet schools, I am not so sure they are viable alternatives to good public schools," she said. "Putting the arts in a magnet school says it is special to some children."

The article, entitled "Principal's Contention is a Magnet for Debate," appeared in the March 27 edition of the St. Petersburg Times. 

Published Monday, Mar. 28, 2005