The development of an art appreciation course for the Stockton Senior High Schools

One of the main projects of the Stockton Unified School District Curriculum Council during the past two years has been to evaluate and review possible courses to be taught on a trial basis in the curriculums of the Stockton Senior High Schools. One such course, World of Art, was recommended and approved by the Curriculum Council to be initiated as a trial offering for no later than 1960. The World of Art course was originally intended to be a one semester course open to junior and senior students in secondary school. Although the course was intended to be a one semester course in art appreciation, it was designed primarily to bring to interested and academically able students an awareness of the art values in personal and community life. The emphasis of such a course was the development of an understanding of art forms and the artists\u27 materials of the present day in relation to the artistic heritage of our times. The Stockton Unified School District Curriculum Council and Steering Committee for Art Education have granted permission to extend the World of Art course from a one semester course to a full year course if a proper syllabus and survey of possible problems that would arise in the actual course could be worked out. The Curriculum Council, after an analysis of related literature dealing with art appreciation throughout the schools in the United States, felt that the principle aim of the newly proposed course should be to bring to the attention of senior high school students the most significant developments in the creative arts