Arts Education In Schools

Introduction

Tom Horne, the state superintendent of public instruction in Arizona said, "When you think about the purpose of education, there are three,” he goes on to say, “We're preparing kids for jobs. We're preparing them to be citizens. And we're teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty,” he finishes with, “The third is as important as the other two,"

Arts Education in the school system has been declining since the 1980's. Budget cuts and standards put in core classes like reading and math make it almost impossible to find a good arts education in public schools. The money that was used to fund the arts programs is now being denied and being put towards the classes that are being required to take standardized

Data MaryAnn Kohl, an arts educator and the author of many books written about children's art education said, "Arts is a way to encourage the process and the experience of thinking and making things better!" In a recent study done in the Portland area by Right Brain Initiative, data showed that "Students' reading and math scores increased at least 2.5 times more than the average annual rate of increase". The study also shows, "Students attending the most engaged Right Brain schools scored over 6 points higher in reading and nearly 9 points higher in math" and "The growth is even greater for English language learners. Students' scores increased ten times more after schools partnered with Right

Years and years of studies and research that show by allowing a child to take a single theatre, dance, art or music class, can increase their overall performance in academics. But yet arts education is still being eliminated in schools worldwide.

Most feel that by eliminating the distraction of the Arts will help children be more focused on their "more important" core classes. They feel that arts education is an unnecessary luxury that is just getting in the way of their child's or their students bright future. What's sad is that they don't realize that by pulling arts education out of schools, they are also pulling a vital resource that will help their children become better students. But more importantly they are dimming a child's creativity and taking away opportunities for them to find passions and talents. Pulling arts out of school is not the answer if anything is causing problems we have to become worse than they already are. "If they're worried about their test scores and want a way to get them higher, they need to give kids more arts, not less,