Art Integration Essay

The arts teach us how to listen and support each other, they teach us how every person is important to a product and to treat all

In “What’s a Liberal Art Education Good For?” President Michael S. Roth states “Successful liberal education develops the capacity for innovation and for judgment.” There are many different types of education making it very hard to decide on a school and program to go into. “Liberal learning differs from all types of learning.” (Roth)

On the 12th of September, I went to the De Young Museum where they had a showcase of a wide range of art pieces, such as paintings, sculptures, and ancient artifacts ranging from many the different time periods and cultures from around the world. However, the one particular artwork that caught my eye would have to be the 12x18” painting called the Migration. It was a painting about the movement of nearly two million African Americans out of the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West by an artist named Jacob Lawrence in the year 1947, which is located on the first floor of the museum.

Robinson claims the fine arts are not placed on the same pedestal as core subjects like mathematics, science, and literature. As such, when the education

The Art in Education In first grade we had to draw a picture of what we would be doing 20 years from then. We had to draw what job we would have, what our hair would look like, what we would be wearing, and I chose to draw a picture of me drawing a picture. As a first grader I knew that my future would mirror what I was doing in that exact moment; I would still have curly hair, and I would still be an artist. Loudly proclaiming that I was going to be an artist when I grew up was ok in elementary school, but at the end of middle school it was often challenged with “but what are you really going to be?”

In his article, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J Ungar argues that a Liberal Arts degree can help one become a more creative, well-rounded person. Common misconceptions based off of perceived value of liberal arts, the cost of getting an education in such, and politics of liberal Democrats contend otherwise, but each of these are refuted. In Ungar’s opinion the first argument against liberal arts, that it has no value, is disproven because liberal arts inspires creativity. This aids students in their chosen career, whether it be in the arts or the sciences, by helping them think in different ways. Furthermore, by being able to think in divergent ways they are more attractive to potential employers.

In other words, arts have to be shared with others. Furthermore, only when the gift assembles more treasures such as culture and tradition, humans spirit would become more abundant and stability (p.50). The integration of diverse experience gifts would bring more arts possible in our life. In addition, Hyde points out that the gift is a talent.

It is important to study something in school that you enjoy but that is also useful in the real world. I have always been asked, “what's your major?”. I would answer art history and always got a response like, “what are you going to do with that?”. Most parents and students don’t feel that there is a good foundation from learning Art History. It is often heard from high school and college students (influenced by their parents) that to succeed you must major in science, technology, engineering, or business. They think studying liberal arts is a future of unemployment and uncertainty. But, it is important to override these belief because of the large opportunity for art majors in the world. My experiences as a child, influences, and mentors have inspired me to study art history at Belmont and I want to share my experiences and knowledge of my process. What drives you to study art and pursue a career in this impressive field?

Modern day schooling forces students to fit a mold only a select few can fill by creating too much structure and having an overbearing emphasis on math and science, when other, less structured extracurricular activities can promote respect, discipline, and teamwork. Most would agree that, in early stages of life, art is a detrimental and necessary part of any child’s early development and education. In fact, Pre-K through third grade’s education curriculum is usually centered around promoting early creativity and a fondness for learning. Kids learn math by counting colorful pieces of bricks. They learn both science and the basic principles of functionality by playing with train sets and toy cars.

During The Great Depression every family was at it’s weakest point. Harry Hopkins one of President Franklin Roosevelt closest advisor started an experimental program known as the Public Works Art Program. This program was shortly lived, however, Harry Hopkins moving from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to the Works Progress Administration created the Federal Art Project. The Federal Art Project was created by the WPA as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans. In all this project created more than 200,000 jobs in many different lines of separate work.

Growing in an arts-rich environment during students’ time in secondary school has benefits that extend to their higher education. High school students who had high levels of arts engagement were 19% more likely to aspire to college than were students with less arts engagement (Catterall 14). 71% of students with a low socioeconomic status who had arts-rich experiences attended some sort of college after high school, compared to only 48% of the low-arts students. 22% more high-arts students from the low socioeconomic group, compared with low-arts students in that group, attended a four-year college (10). Arts-engaged high school students enrolled in competitive colleges at a 15% higher rate than did low arts-engaged students (15).

Like most young children, I enjoyed coloring and watercolor splatters, but unlike most of those children my love for art pursued beyond my elementary school years. Middle school was fine, but limited. Shawnee Mission West’s art program was an oasis to my little, freshman self. When I entered high school the much more advanced art program opened my world and offered growth. I submitted a portfolio to prove my abilities and skip Introduction to Art which made it possible to further myself.

For years, Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) struggled to reform Bates Middle School’s, a highly diverse and largely minority populated school, performance as indicated by state standardized testing scores, which were 14-27% behind the county average. “Bates was marked for Corrective Action (the third and highest tier of school improvement) by AACPS” (Snyder, Klos & Grey-Hawkins, 2014, p. 3). To improve student engagement and achievement the school decided to apply a different curricular approach that focused on “the integration of art into the academic content curricula [to provide] a logical approach to address the variety of students’ intelligences that are reflected in their different learning

“Arts education is critical for helping students develop creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving abilities” (Chernin). The arts can help people succeed. Art is a way that people can express themselves and share their beliefs. Arts in education can help people focus and attend. Fine arts are important because they make a huge impact on kids education, they make an impact on how people pursue their life careers, and it also helps with stress and anxiety.

1.2 Statement of Significance Art can do lots of things that can create powerful and great changes in ourselves. Artist is someone that is so hard to read if we fail to understand them to interpret the underlying meaning behind their painting because it is their getaway to express their emotions and desires to the community. To accomplish this, the artists are communicating with the society by delivering their messages through their artworks.