Higher Arts Education

Abstract

Marginalized groups within any dominant culture find engagement with higher education challenging. Partially to blame is the compensatory paradigm within which they are situated and the resulting denigration of their culture and cultural capital. This attitude reinforces the deficit model, where socio-cultural diversity is seen pathologically rather than as a treasured asset. To contest this model, and empower marginalized learners, it is necessary to credentialize the capital, which they possess. Contemporary arts education, liberated from any generalized form of a priori aesthetic, moral imperative, or referential loyalties, provides a learning environment where individuals, once considered outsiders, can achieve such validation.