Moreover, state arts support has never fully recovered from the region's recession. Arts educators lament the artistic deficiencies of students who arrive at the doors of college admissions offices. Some urban school districts haven't taught music in 25 years, and too many students are steered away from music and arts by insensitive teachers. For example, the New England Conservatory's Freeman tells of the time he asked the president of Eastman Kodak about his interest in music. Higher education has offered little incentive for schools to offer a serious arts curriculum.
Commentators propose a variety of reforms and improvements.
The New England States remains an authoritative resource on the people and politics of the region. But facing the harsh realities of diminishing funds, neither the arts nor the liberal arts can afford to strap its cause to a partner perhaps more impractical than itself. This very limited perspective is troubling for the arts-and even more so for education. New England Conservatory President Robert Freeman calls for reforms in music education. The practical value of an arts education has been recognized in New England at least since the 1870s, when the public Massachusetts College of Art and the private Rhode Island School of Design were created at the urging of business leaders who saw a need for homegrown designers to support the region's surging textile industry.