Arts-Based Education: Improving Education In The 21st Century

Schools across America are cutting Fine Arts programs left and right due to budget cuts and reduced funding, which is preventing students the ability to have an equally standardized arts education. About 95% of schools in America have eliminated or reduced their fine arts program’s funding. According to a report released by the PCCY only 149 out of the 268 public schools in Philadelphia have a choral teacher and 59% of them have an art teacher (Davis). These schools that lack fine arts teachers have felt the need to reduce faculty in order to pay for other expenses. This prevents students from receiving the benefits associated with a fine arts education. In addition, two out of every ten schools don’t have a choral or an art teacher (Davis).

“After a certain high level of technical skill achieved, science and arts tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientist are artist as well” (Albert Einstein). In this advanced modern tech-world mostly people are dependent on science and technology, but arts also play an important role in education. Art creates balanced thinking and better imagination which helps humans to be successful in their career. Yo-Yo Ma intensely informs about important role of arts in modern education society throughout his essay Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and education. Ma illustrates that arts should be also part of education, because it improve students to filter their imagination through disciplined knowledge. Liberal arts should be equal to science and technology because it creates new idea, and in this modern world people should think critical than divergent in their lives. Empathy teaches students to understand and simplify the complicated life. Collaboration include discussion amongst people or group to make things effortless. Moreover liberal arts itself is beauty such as performing arts, it values the beauty of imagination in modern society by art and sculpture.

Public education that is provided throughout the country gives students the ability to learn fine arts, math, science, language arts, and other classes that educate people in different areas. Many people might have opinionated their reasoning on why they think fine arts in a public education is beneficial or not. Different perspectives may lead you to think one is better than the other. Having extracurricular classes like music and art benefits from long-life advantages and helps critical thinking and verbal skills to express yourself freely. Fine arts in public education should continue in public schools because it increases motivation, boosts confidence, and improves teamwork skills.

The fine arts program in public schools is detrimental to the success of students. Studies have shown that 90 percent or more of secondary schools offer instruction in music or the visual arts. With this many schools offering music in their curriculum there are numerous students that take these classes yearly. Taking away this classes would rob youth of their chance to excel in something other than academics. The fine arts program has multiple benefits to students. Youth who take music, art, and/or drama excel in the educational aspect of their lives. Music has been proved to be able to allow students to access parts of their brain that are not used in different daily activities. Fine arts also teaches children many values that can be used

Bob Bryant, the Executive Director of Fine Arts for Katy ISD in 2000, emphasises the importance of utilizing art in schools’ curriculums: “The arts are what make us most human, most complete as people. The arts cannot be learned through occasional or random exposure any more than math or science can” (Bryant). Art is a way of expression and leads to acquiring a deeper understanding of the details in life. The first day of preschool, teachers teach through the help of art. This is due to the fact that art is the foundation of a child's learning. Art is a way, where one can explore their ideas and thoughts. Creativity should neither be contained nor limited. Art is an outlet used for people to show who they are. The aspect of art is carried along in each generation. Different cultures use art to show who they are as one. Art appeals to people's senses and emotions, which helps people connect with one another. Since art is an essential, integral part in a student's academic learning, schools should make art classes mandatory.

Do you want to add light to your life? Arts programs in schools are crucial to students learning for many reasons Kids in school that take arts are guaranteed to expand their brain, and make life a little brighter. Kids cannot do this if schools have no programs in the arts. We need the arts in schools for all sorts of things and it is of great importance that they are included in the school curriculum .

I strongly believe that an integrated arts curriculum provides children with the opportunity to not only explore the different art forms in open-ended ways but also to

The ability to do well by comparison is a difficult knowledge to convey to an elementary age child; however, in recent years many educators have taken the “do your best approach” by insisting that children should not compare themselves to others by intellect. That wonderfully inclusive mindset aside — grades are still grades and firmly in place within the American school system, and so one of the many tasks at hand for educators is to figure out how to engage every student and encourage effort and good performance in assessments. The results of a multidimensional study by The University of Toronto’s Kathleen Gallagher show "the greater the level of student engagement [in the fine arts], the more likely students are to participate in classroom environments" (Gallagher, 2014). As such, educators are utilizing Arts Integration to achieve more student engagement which leads to higher student

"Studies show that students in the arts outperformed their non-arts peers on the SAT by 96 points, while a child who has continued access to arts education has a 74 percent higher chance of planning to attend college” (Urist 9). The arts teach several lessons to children and they provide an equal opportunity for everyone. The arts also provide a different form of discipline and insight into the real world. While others may say that sports make kids strive for good grades, the arts support children in a different way. Others may also say funding should go towards core subjects, but what they don’t know is that the humanities use the core subjects during classes. Even though fine arts are not exciting for everyone, they should receive more funding in schools because fine arts keep kids out of trouble, provide a way to express oneself and help teenagers make life decisions.

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading writing, and arithmetic…music dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment” (William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education).

The recommendation of this paper are all three options; these options are that school districts should include arts in the curriculum, having prepare teacher that have an art major and adding support in the classroom. Besides this option, several options can be taken into consideration. The teacher is a big part of student life because they can teach them the skill, new experiences, and motivate them to become better. However, there are some limitations to this analysis. First, the lack of school's administrators that would like to incorporate arts. Then the cost and the visibility that parents and administrators would take this subject to be included in the curriculum. Also, prepare the teacher in the field would cost money and most schools

Hypothesis Question: However, if art is important as a stepping stone for the young generation that will someday rule the world, why is art the thing that is taken away from a curriculum when the school has a budget cut?

Every public school across the nation has seen program cuts, changes in curriculum and standardized expectations for teachers and students alike. Arts education programs within the public school system have taken the most egregious hits. While the economy is usually named as the catalyst for the loss, or reduction, of arts education in public schools, it can also be said that the focus of education and core curriculum standards have served to downplay, if not disparage, the role of arts education in the learning environment.

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 tests.

Arts education in public schools is a very valuable asset to helping students become a well-rounded life-long learner. The arts are core subjects in the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the NC Basic Education Program, and, as such, are included as core subjects every student should learn as part of a balanced curriculum for all children in North Carolina, in short they are considered essential (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2011). Because the state budget has eliminated so many vital areas of the public school budget the arts instructional supplies and value of the arts overall have come under careful legislative scrutiny. States all over America are limiting arts instruction and some have eliminated programs due to high stakes testing and public funding shortfalls. Arts education encompasses three main areas. Vocal and instrumental based including; choral music, band, orchestra, and music appreciation; Performance based including theater arts, dance, dance and theater arts appreciation; and Visual based to include visual and studio arts, art appreciation and art history. Through research on the value of arts education in studies throughout