Arts Education is Needed

Since the beginning of time, the arts have been a significant part of human existence. It is art that teaches us the most about the people who lived hundreds of years before us. We learn culture, language, religion and society; however, the arts still tend to fall at the bottom of the totem pole in the educational system.

The arts budget is always the first budget to be cut. Time and time again, studies have proven what a positive impact the arts have on students. They excel in other areas of study. “Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. A 2005 report by the Rand Corporation about the visual arts argues that the intrinsic pleasures and stimulation of the art experience do more than sweeten an individual’s life — according to the report, they ‘can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing,’ creating the foundation to forge social bonds and community cohesion.”

Could you imagine a world with no music, no dance, no theater, and no paintings? How do we express ourselves? It would be a dark and depressing world. Imagine having to live day by day with the same pressures and stress of society with no outlet. We are leaving something behind. Something that is beautiful. Without the arts, our children are just robots quoting important facts and solving mathematics. To take away a child’s imagination and creativity is to take away his voice.

SOURCEShttp://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development