Cooking, sewing, weaving, and embroidery were introduced as well. In the early part of this century, the crafts were approached in the spirit of extending the immigrants' traditional pride and vocational interest in well-made handcrafted items. Programs are no longer based on sexist sterotypes . . . . sewing for girls and woodworking for boys. In spite of these changes, the attitude persists that art is primarily a manual skill . . . . At best, this view perpetuates the concept of an elite class of intellectuals whom society should revere above other . . . .
Children also learn about art forms and symbols created in other cultures.
Prior to the early 1920s, children's art was widely regarded as a clumsy and immature version of adult art. Adult art, in turn, was valued if it echoed the great achievements of the old masters. Both of these concepts were challenged in the decades following the first world War. The New York Armory Show of 1913 was the first large and widely publicized exhibition of modern art ever held in America. The new styles of art demonstrated that the artist's creative energy could turn inward to the subconscious, explore pure visual form and structure, and transform our sense of time, space, and motion.