How is art education valued in society? In Swedish public discourse the value of educational trajectories is often equated with their usefulness for employability. With competitive winner-takes-all labour markets for artists, art education is largely perceived as a worthless credential and form of education. But what kinds of worth does art education have among students themselves? This article draws on the approach of pragmatic sociology and individual and group interviews with 62 Swedish folk high school participants within the arts, to understand the meanings participants assign to post-compulsory education within the aesthetic realm. The students’ accounts belong to three broad themes, where art education is described as: (a) being a ‘stepping stone’ to becoming an artist, (b) allowing them to have ‘unique’ experiences while being in a particular state of creativity or (c) offering them a chance to regain health and general well-being after a difficult period. These results are discussed in relation to the relative institutional autonomy the folk high school possesses in the Swedish education system, as well as the possibilities of challenging the hegemonic ideas of ‘learning for earning’ that largely reject non-instrumental regimes of self-discovery and artistic creativity.

中文翻译：

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艺术教育的价值：学生选择可竞争教育的理由

社会如何评价艺术教育？在瑞典的公共话语中，教育轨迹的价值通常等同于它们对就业的有用性。由于竞争激烈的赢家通吃艺术家的劳动力市场，艺术教育在很大程度上被认为是一种毫无价值的证书和教育形式。但是艺术教育对学生本身有什么样的价值呢？本文利用实用社会学的方法以及对 62 名瑞典民间高中艺术专业参与者的个人和团体访谈，了解参与者在审美领域赋予后义务教育的意义。学生的叙述属于三大主题，其中艺术教育被描述为：(a) 成为成为艺术家的“垫脚石”，(b) 允许他们在处于特定创造力状态时拥有“独特”的体验，或 (c) 为他们提供在艰难时期后恢复健康和总体幸福感的机会。这些结果的讨论涉及民间高中在瑞典教育系统中拥有的相对制度自主权，以及挑战“为赚钱而学习”的霸权思想的可能性，这些思想在很大程度上拒绝了自我发现和学习的非工具性制度。艺术创造力。