| This study compared and analyzed the attitudes of elementary school teachers of Nigeria and the United States of America toward visual art education. The study explored the function of visual art education of elementary school children. It also gathered information about the attitudes of the two groups of teachers toward visual art education and the circumstances that attributed to those attitudes.;Six public elementary schools (three in Tennessee, U.S.A., and three in Cross River State, Nigeria) formed the two study groups' samples for the study. The selected schools were in inner city, middle class urban, and suburban neighborhoods. Data were collected by means of the researcher's designed questionnaire and interviews.;The questionnaire and interviews investigated teachers' beliefs about the visual arts that led to the formation of either negative or positive attitudes toward visual arts. The reasons for negative attitudes were also examined, and the results of the interviews were noted for application. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed with a 2 x 2 contingency table with Yates' correction for continuity.;Several findings are related to those of other writers. Recommendations were also made to the State Department of Education, principals, art supervisors (U.S.A.), Ministry of Education, headmasters, inspectors of schools (Nigeria), educational policy specialists, and elementary school teachers to re-evaluate their general attitude toward visual art education.;The review of literature traced the historical importance of and the historical attitude toward visual art education. It examined the importance of visual art education including uses of visual arts in the child's expression, environment, physical and mental development, perceptual growth, clinical psychology, creativity, aesthetics and social growth. The following questions were addressed: Is art only for children talented in visual arts? Should visual art education be avoided and more emphasis put on the sciences?... |
