In recent years, it has been brought to light that most schools tend to pay closer attention to sports events and teams, rather than their equally strong (if not better) art programs. This attitude is especially prevalent at La Plata High School.
Sports teams, football especially, tend to be the main focus of extracurricular activities at La Plata High School. You may not have noticed, but the sports teams are allotted a spot on the morning announcements to let everyone know about their win over the weekend (as if we didn’t hear about it enough over Twitter and Instagram) and are given many chances to announce upcoming games or fundraiser nights.
However, the arts programs, such as the theater department or the choir department, are very seldom recognized over the announcements. Auditions for plays, musicals and other art productions often go unnoticed due to the fact that there are no announcements; if there are any, they are only a day or two before the event takes place.
The money the art department gets goes into their accounts and is used for much-needed supplies, like paint, costumes, and sheet music. Speaking of funding, when have you have heard about a sports team being underfunded to the point where it’s up to the students to pay for their own equipment? Never. That is typically the case for the music and theater departments.
The chamber choir students are required to wear a uniform (that is far from a reasonable price) and pay for it themselves; however, sports teams receive their uniforms free of charge. “Sports teams are allowed to go to so many more places and the arts program has to fundraise all year for a small field trip,” La Plata student Rachel Ward said.
There is something not quite right going on with the attitudes of the students and staff of La Plata High School about the arts, and I think it’s about time a change took place.
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