Good week article 3994

Ericka Kammerer

So I take it sports and the Arts are not part of the US school curriculum? Kids here get to do all those things in school so they all get to experience them. Of course plenty still do seasonal sports too, Rugby is our national religion after all and we are a very outdoorsy nation. But it's not like kids who don't do out of school sports will never have any fitness and sporting experiences. PE (Physical education) happens everyday and is compulsory right up to year 11 (age about 15) when it becomes a subject option. Paige (10) for example plays in a softball team, does Netball, athletics, cross country and flipper ball and doesn't do any of them out of school. Ditto with the arts, it's one of the main curriculum areas in NZ education and kids get ample opportunities to experience all forms of the arts, from Drama, the fine arts, music, and dance. Paige currently has some of her art from last year hanging in a local gallery and had a huge mural of hers on display for weeks at a park over Christmas. She's been to visit exhibitions, learnt to play the keyboard and recorder, knows many folk dances and traditional dances and songs and hasn't done any of it out of school. This is the New Zealand Arts curriculum for anyone who is interested.