Teaching Students to Create and Appreciate Beauty

I greatly appreciate art, music, and live theater, but I am not an artist, musician, or actor. In fact, I think I appreciate the arts even more because I do not have these gifts. When people ask me about the fine and performing arts, I often joke that I am called to be in the audience ... but, to be honest, I am not really joking. Audience member (patron of the arts) is a vital role for a flourishing society. Schools have a crucial responsibility to encourage the appreciation of the arts in addition to teaching the creation of art and music.

Plato identified truth, beauty, and goodness as essential elements for a virtuous life and a flourishing society. However, beauty lights up our life in ways that truth and goodness do not; in fact, I can know truth and act with goodness, but still live a life of despair. Humans need to create and appreciate beautiful things, and one of the best ways to do that is through the fine and performing arts. 

The False ROI Mindset

Schools should lead the way in helping students and the overall society appreciate beauty and the arts. Unfortunately, since the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and its over-emphasis on test scores, schools have neglected the arts in favor of the more "measurable" subjects, like math and reading. This is a "Return on Investment" (ROI) mindset that has infected education. In short, subjects that lead to higher test scores, better school ratings, more college admissions, and, ultimately, higher alumni salaries are valued above subjects that do not provide those returns on investment. Although we often blame school districts and administrators for cutting the arts programs, blame falls more on our society as a whole ... and our ROI mindset with education.

The ROI mindset is killing the arts and, ultimately, our appreciation of beauty (and joy). We are economically rich and emotionally poor as a nation. It is no wonder that Bradley Birzer, a professor at Hillsdale College summarizing American culture in the State of the Nation report (2025), concluded, "We're so wealthy but so unhappy." 

Here are a few ways that schools can help bring back beauty and joy into our world.

Acknowledge God as Beauty Creator and Appreciator

First, we need to recognize God as the first and ultimate beauty creator. God's first quality on display was his creativity as he made the heavens and the earth. Educators should take seriously the call to train up students to be beauty creators, in reflection of our creator. God also was the original beauty appreciator as He paused at the end of creating each day, observed everything, and stated, "It is good." Teachers and students should regularly pause to look at God's creation around us and state, "wow, that is beautiful!" 

Additionally, we know that God wants us to create beautiful things. In Exodus 31, the Spirit of God fills Bezalel, giving him the ability to make beautiful artistic designs and various crafts for the tabernacle. Interestingly, this is the first time recorded in scriptures where the Spirit of God filled a human, and God fills and empowers an artist. God also gives intricately detailed (and beautiful) designs for the temple over multiple chapters (I Kings 5-7; 2 Chronicles 2-4). God cares deeply about beauty, and as we are made in His image, we also should strive to create beautiful things.

Schools should follow this rhythm of creating and appreciating beauty.

Led by an exceptional Christian teacher, beauty can be created and appreciated in any subject. I know that the words on a page, the cell in a microscope, and a complex math formula are all beautiful and bring God glory. All subjects can be involved in beauty creating and appreciating; however, I am going to continue to focus on the fine and performing arts in regards to beauty. 

Creating Beauty

Students creating art and music is something that is inherently imago dei human, and the process in itself is beautiful. With the expansion of AI generated art and music, schools must continue to provide opportunities for students to reflect God's image in these ways. This involves investing in qualified instructors in these areas to teach students both the knowledge and skills to create beautiful music and art. It also requires a time and schedule investment. "Specials," like music and art, are often relegated to the periphery of the elementary school day, and converted into "electives" at the middle and high school level. I understand that school districts and administrators have a difficult task balancing all that can be taught, so if beauty creating is not one of the core values, the school-wide investment may not be present. However, individual teachers can integrate music and art into the other subjects. 

Classroom teachers passionate about beauty creation can add enrichment activities to each unit. Thankfully, most of the top curricula have activities in each unit to help teachers incorporate art and music. Additionally, AI can assist teachers in crafting lessons that highlight music and art. e.g. ask one of the AI platforms to "develop an enrichment activity for a 6th grade marine biology unit that incorporates student created music." 

In addition to developing this aspect of God's image, beauty creating adds joy to learning. Teachers who integrate music and art will see their students' eyes light up and smiles beam when they take 20 minutes to enrich a lesson with music or art.

Appreciating Beauty

Some teachers may feel unqualified to lead "beauty creating" in the classroom, but pausing to appreciate beauty is God-glorifying and may be an easy on-ramp. It doesn't take much to begin the class by listening to a song or looking at a work of art. These "bell-ringers" can simply be a pause to say, "wow, that is beautiful" or it can be a more complex analysis (here's another good use of AI ...  Ask AI to come up with art appreciation discussion questions for Edvard Munch's "The Scream" for a 9th grade English class). 

If your school values beauty and is within driving distance to a metropolitan area, incorporate field trips for all grade levels to museums, theaters, concert halls to allow students to experience beauty in person. These venues understand the importance of introducing students to the arts, and most have very affordable or free programs. Students see so much manufactured beauty that you will blow their minds by taking them to see art and music in person. You may need to train them on "how to eat a [painting]" (reference to Eve Merriam's poem "How to Eat a Poem"). Here are a few tips for enjoying a painting:   

1. Stand back to take in a wide angle, appreciating its fullness and considering what is beautiful about the painting.
2. Focus on different quadrants so you don't miss any part of the painting.
3. Slowly move closer until you see the brush strokes and consider the skill of the painter.
4. Read the title and caption, reflecting on what is written by the curator.
5. Return to the back to take in the whole masterpiece again before moving on to the next painting.

I have fortunately taught and led schools in communities rich with museums, concert halls, and theaters, so this has always been a part of my experience. It has been a joy to take students to these and just watch them find joy in the beautiful. Sometimes it takes longer for some to appreciate, so finding the right level of exhibit or concert is important. I remember taking a group of high school students to a classic Italian opera (sung in Italian). While this would be a stretch for many adults, the students were captivated after the first 20 minutes. What a joy to watch their faces turn from furrowed brows and scrunched up noses to wide open eyes and mouths in awe of the beauty. (Yes, some students fell asleep as did some adults in the audience, but only a few).

I want to end this section where I began this article, honoring the role of an audience member. Our society needs individuals who value beauty, and I believe schools should be training up students to appreciate art and music (created and performed by fellow humans). As the Boomer generation passes away, we need the next generation to take up the role of patron of the arts, supporting beauty creation in the fine and performing arts. Educators and schools have a unique opportunity to show students art and music and declare together ... "wow, that is beautiful!"

But ... how do we know if something is beautiful? 

What is Beautiful?

When I am hiking in the Rockies and come to a breath-taking vista, I just know that view is beautiful, but when a student creates something in art class, how do you know if that is beautiful? Isn't it all just subjective? Here are three principles to consider.

1. Professionally trained art and music teachers must lead the learning. Unfortunately, some schools do not have the resources, conviction, or ability to staff these positions well. Students suffer if they don't have an expert leading them in beauty making.
2. Students must be educated in what is "beautiful" in the specific genre, medium, style, or expression, and this takes time studying exemplars and imitating beauty in art and music. 
3. Students need to enter with a humility, willing to take constructive criticism well. This must lead to working hard to improve. 
• btw, I do think a student's effort and improvement is beautiful and God-glorifying ... a consideration in grading (for another blog)

Actually, The Voice and The Great British Baking Show have helped me understand these principles better over the years of watching these shows. Clearly, the judges on these shows are professionally trained and have put in hours of work becoming experts in their craft. I know this because I sometimes hear a beautiful voice that doesn't get a chair to turn, and I'm sure that I could not tell if a cake was slightly over-baked. The judges are experts, know exemplars, and see the gap between what is produced and what is truly beautiful. Likewise, the contestants that ultimately produce beautiful things are willing to take constructive criticism and work diligently to improve.

Both teachers and students can learn a few things from these shows. 

First, exemplars are helpful learning tools. Contestants on The Voice use exemplars of the song, professionally sung and produced, to prepare for their auditions, and can you imagine the improvement if the bakers could see the exemplar in the technical challenge? Exemplars help students learn. 

Second, criticism should be constructive. While I hope that teachers deliver criticism with more grace than some talent show judges, students must be willing to take the criticism (even in front of their peers) and learn from it. Sadly, many students today wilt under criticism; hopefully, students can learn from these shows about how to take criticism and grow from this feedback. 

Plato was correct in identifying truth, beauty, and goodness as essential elements to a flourishing society. As these elements become more rare today, educators need to step in to shift our focus.

Helping students create and appreciate beauty will bring joy to their life and to the society as a whole. 

If you liked this article, check out the other article in this series on Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.

• Teaching Students to be Truth Discerners

Teaching Students Truth Discernment

I admit it ... I've been duped. I recently viewed an animal video on social media that was so amazing that I just had to share it with my family ... I'm glad I didn't share it on my social media accounts because it was an AI created "deepfake" video. While this animal video was quite harmless, being emotionally manipulated with fake AI videos is becoming more and more prevalent ... to get donations, defame political opponents, and promote untruths. One thing is true ... it is getting increasingly difficult to know what is true today. 

As educators, we absolutely need to teach students to understand and evaluate artificial intelligence, but we must begin with a more foundational question: What is truth?

Plato originally identified the core elements of being as truth, beauty, and goodness. Since that point, these three elements have shaped education, especially religious education. Unfortunately, the past century of progressive education has deconstructed each of these elements. We have created our own truth, redefined beauty, and discarded any standard of goodness. Consequently, we find ourselves in an epistemological, aesthetic, and moral mess.

Returning to those three core elements is the only way back, and educators must lead the way ... starting with teaching students to be truth discerners.

Build (back) a Foundation for Learning

The skills for learning have been decimated over the previous decades of progressive education. In order to teach students to become truth discerners, we need to ensure that a solid foundation exists, starting with getting back to the basics during the elementary years. Unfortunately, many upper school students need to relearn these elements before they can truly know truth.

Fear of the Lord -- Any conversation about building a foundation for learning must begin with faith in God, and this has not been a part of most of American education and educational philosophy. It is no wonder that our educational system is in decline. As Proverbs 9:10 states, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Obviously, Christian schools are at an advantage with this building block, but, sadly, many Christian school classrooms look too similar to public school classrooms, as many teachers are trained in state teacher education programs. If you want to find truth in education, start with fearing God and teaching Christianly. Make this integral to the educational process.

Teach Students How to Read -- Teaching students to read has been a pillar of education ever since there was the written word. As books and the printed word became more accessible, literacy became essential. In fact, shortly after Gutenberg's printing press, many pushed for universal education so that all students could learn to read (especially the Bible). Unfortunately, about fifty years ago educators changed the way they taught students how to read, even though research did not support this change; phonics and de-coding was replaced by whole language. This is still a literacy debate, and I encourage you to listen to the "Sold a Story" podcast series. In teaching students to be truth discerners, they must know how to read well ... don't miss this step. 

Upper School Strategies

If students fear the Lord and know how to read, they have the building blocks to seek truth, but as students transition into upper levels, educators must continue to guide the process. Here are a few essential strategies.

Read Primary Sources and Take Your Time -- At some point in the relatively recent past, reading became hard and took too long (possibly tied to a point above), so curriculum writers and publishers  shifted to abridged versions and secondary sources. The premise of abridgement is that every written work only has a few important paragraphs, so why would anyone read the entire work? However, if students only read abridged versions, they miss the author's full argument, context and richness of language, and, more damaging, curriculum writers are deciding what are the most important paragraphs to read rather than the teacher or student. Likewise, reading only secondary sources and summaries removes critical reading and analysis brain work. This is especially prevalent in academic research today; gone are the days of reading entire books (or even full articles) to gain the perspective of the author to add to a paper; instead, students grab quotes without context to support their point. We've lost the ability for critical reading, a key to truth seeking. Additionally, developing truth discernment requires reflection, contemplation, and discussion ... take the time. Yes, primary sources take longer and are more work, but they are essential tools in teaching students to be truth discerners.

Fact Check Everything -- Unfortunately due to lying politicians, statistical manipulation, and fake news, the new term in truth seeking is "fact checking." Verifying facts and triangulating reports used to be an expectation of a journalist with integrity; now, being the first to publish a story has pushed journalists to run with stories that have not been fully vetted. Walter Cronkite used to be "the most trusted man in America"; now, nobody trusts the news. This is actually a great lesson to use with students in writing essays, making arguments, and classroom discussions ... any statement that is made must be supported by facts (preferably from primary sources). This is part of the hard work of becoming a truth discerner ... and it is something that Christians have been doing since the early church. The Bereans were Christians of "noble character" who fact-checked Paul's sermons with the scriptures to make sure what he said was true (Acts 17:11). Imagine fact-checking the Apostle Paul (author of most of the New Testament)! If that is commended of the Bereans, we should also learn to fact-check ... but using the Bible as the ultimate truth. The Protestant Reformation used ad fontes (meaning "back to the fount" or "back to the source") as a battle cry encouraging Christians to go back to the Bible to check orthodoxy and orthopraxy. In fact, this is essentially Martin Luther's defense when he was being tried for excommunication at the diet of Worms; he stated that he would recant if they could show him his error based on scripture alone. He was trained well as a truth discerner and someone who used the ultimate primary source. 

One of the best pedagogical principles a teacher can use to develop truth discerning is to require evidence from primary sources for every claim that is made by students. If they know that is the standard, students will rise to the challenge. Having students orally defend their paper is a powerful summative assessment (or celebration of learning) that helps to genuinely measure learning. 

Test the Spirits of the Age -- Finally, truth discerning must have a philosophical foundation to analyze content based on a worldview. Students today do not study philosophy and have not been trained in literary criticism (which is typically reserved for upper level college courses in the humanities). High school students can handle literary criticism and philosophy, and this knowledge base will help them find truth. When I taught high school English, I always had my students analyze a short story from many different philosophical perspectives (e.g. Marxism, Feminism, Historical, etc.). This concept also comes from the Bible when the Apostle John warned Christians to "test the spirits of the age" (I John 4). Our melting pot world contains so many different philosophies and worldviews that philosophy and literary criticism are essential skills to truth discerning.

Of course, there are many more strategies to grow students in truth discernment, but these principles above will help educators begin.

Students today need to be strong truth discerners in a world that loudly proclaims that everyone creates his/her own truth. Objective truth is found in God's word, and that must be our starting point in education ... if that is where we start, our students will be well on their way to becoming truth discerners.