A Case For Early Art Education

“Arts has a role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else” Art in the education system is really important, the arts cannot be learned through a random exposure any more like math or science. The arts is an one of the biggest part of the school curriculum. Even though art is not necessary for people to use in the real world. It basically a way to express creativity, but people can get that creativity from other courses by imagining projects and creating them to help society, It is important to learn arts in our education because To watch a child completely engaged in an arts experience is to recognize that the brain is on, driven by the aesthetic and emotional imperative to make meaning, to say something, to represent what matters. and Children will have opportunities to think and feel as they explore, problem solve, express, interpret, and evaluate the process and the results.

Some people look at art as something trivial, a thing people do because they are too lazy to have a professional occupation, but to others, art engulfs their whole world, gives life meaning, and they feel as if talent is only gained by hard work. With these opinions, there can be a debate on including art in education, and whether or not the education system should be putting more of an emphasis on teaching children art. Specifically visual art, although there are valid arguments on why other spectrums of the arts should also be taught in school.

The article “Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in Schools” by Robin Pogrebin explains the influence of art and the conclusion of two researchers, Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland. “Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgements and justify such judgements,” conclude both researchers.

To begin with, education and engagement in fine art programs are an essential part within the school curriculum because subjects such as mathematics, science, and language arts all require cognitive and creative capacities which are enhanced with the process of learning art. For instance, in the article, Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefits Student Achievement, it states that “researchers

There are many ways that this decision of keeping art out of the school is hurting the children instead of helping them. With the addition of art children get to develop their own creativity and thinking style. Exposure to art can have positive effects mentally on the child in numerous ways. In participating in artistic projects, children will be able to try and experiment with new ideas and techniques that will help them develop and learn cognitive skills, problem solving, and cause and effect.

Throughout many years, art has been proved to play a crucial role in life. Research have shown that art courses are important even necessary for children and students in kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools because art can help out in emotional, mental, and physical being. Many art classes include visual arts but performing arts such as dance, theatre and choir are also included. David A. Sousa a neuroscientist stated that “Certain brain areas respond only to music while others are devoted to initiating and coordinating movement from intense running to the delicate sway of the arms”. Sousa points out that there are many benefits to art because of the slow movements of the arms and brain activities. Also, schools all over the world have been slowly cutting out fine arts education for other classes and clubs. The newer generation is fully understanding the negative effects of the cutting the funds of fine arts programs.

The intended audience for this presentation are an educational advisory boards with regards to advocating for art education in school curriculum in America. This topic is appropriate for parents that are interested in how fine art education helps to improve at risk student

It is well known that art is often overlooked or cut in most education systems around the world. Many believe that is is a distraction from the core components of education (Math, Science, English and History). While many believe this, studies have shown the complete opposite. Art enhances education and encourages creativity or ‘thinking outside the box’. By definition art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. Without art, earth would be ‘eh’. Funds are running low and the federal government does not require any completion of art in order to receive a diploma. However, art should be a required fifth core class.

According to Sandra Ruppert, the majority of the American public believes that “the arts are vital to a well-rounded education,” with over half of them rating the importance a strong ten on a scale (“New Harris Poll”). According to this Harris Poll among 1,000 American adults from May 2005, a stunning “eighty-six percent of Americans agree that an arts education encourages and assists in the improvement of a child’s attitudes toward school.” Eighty-three percent feel confident that an education involving art helps students communicate better with everyone around them. Seventy-nine percent believe that “incorporating arts into education is the first step in adding back what’s missing in public education today,” and many feel that it is so important that they would become personally involved to help increase the quality and amount of arts education children receive.

With the growing demand for schools to meet the criteria set for them to focus more on core subjects such as science and math, the classes deemed as “non-essential” are struggling to make it by. The arts department in schools across the country is dealing with extensive cutbacks in financial support as well as teacher and students involvement. As the cuts made to the arts department is overreached The United States is forgetting about the significant impact art has made in not only this country, but the history it has made across the globe. For centuries, different forms of art became beneficial in shaping generations and society. The arts give beneficial, developing factors to the youth and by eliminating these classes the key forms of growth

For some unexplainable reason it is a common belief that the fine arts have no place in the education system. People want to say that the arts are unimportant and that students should put all of their focus on subjects such as Math or English. Parents want students to pursue a “meaningful” career (e.g. doctors, lawyers, teachers, or architects) so they encourage and sometimes force their children to ignore the arts completely. What these people do not know or maybe simply ignore however, is that the presence of fine arts in a student’s life is vital to the integrity of his or her academic success because they increase their brain’s attention span and cognitive processes.

The impact art has on the citizens of the Untied States is incredible. Through the NEA, incredible strides have been made in arts education. The Endowment funds research for those who create studies relating to the arts. One such researcher is Kenneth Elpus, whose research report entitled “Arts Education and Positive Youth Development: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social Outcomes of Adolescents Who Study the Arts.” The study examines the positive effects on social, cognitive, and behavioral skills that an arts education can have on children as they grow into adolescence. Findings from the report show students who took art classes of some form were 55.38% more likely to have attended college by the time they reached adulthood. The report concluded

Art is so important for a child to have in their everyday life as a learning tool. For instance, if a

Imagine going through school without having to sing in choir, take an art class or play a musical instrument. Without all of those programs, life might be very dull and boring. It is the arts that gives all of our lives meaning and adds creativity to every single day. However, people usually do not stop to think about the impact that it has on our own self. In fact, the arts in schools may be one of the most beneficial aspects towards our own education. Then, whey are the arts always the first to get their programs cut? It is because people do not fully understand the direct positive impact the arts have. Art in education is one of the most important factors towards raising test scores, improving social and developmental skills and improving the overall quality of all of our lives.

Think about the arts: they are omnipresent like air in daily life, from going to the movies to attending a music concert to visiting an art museum, with none of those activities being existent if it were not for the people who spent years perfecting those art forms for other’s entertainment and enjoyment. The truth is, the arts have been embedded in human nature just like carvings on wood, and is a surviving and persisting tradition that can be traced to even the earliest culture and history that has proved itself to be a key factor for bringing the world together under common interests and art forms. One would think that the arts should be required in all education systems with their strong roots in the past and modern times, but the arts are still the first programs to be cut from schools on tight budgets, and are nonexistent in low-income schools due to being dismissed as inferior to the more “academic” subjects. Even though the arts are more abstract, subjective, and lenient in subject areas, they are still the crucial link and passage to the world of creativity, imagination, and passion. The arts are irreplaceable subjects that should be maintained in schools because only they can provide a truly well rounded education to students, harnessing them with priceless skills that simply cannot be found in purely academic classes, while providing numerous benefits that no other programs can replace.