Course Integration Is Another Solution

Section Two: History: Since public schools across the country have faced budget cuts in the past decade and a half, a common cost-cutting measure is to lessen the funding for arts education, prioritizing what are deemed more essential subjects such as math, reading, and science. Yet in fact, the current iteration of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, also known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, lists that the arts are among the core academic subjects, requiring all schools to enable all students to achieve in the arts and reap all the benefits of a comprehensive arts education. Yet the economically prioritized curriculum is still draining the sources from these imperative programs leaving instruments, paintbrushes, and other artistic pieces in closets to collect dust, because no one will be there to teach or use them. Most impacting in the history of

All around the United States, art programs are being cut out of the budget in public schools. The arts include dance, band, chorus, theatre, film, drawing, painting, photography and literary arts. Some school board members feel these art programs are not necessary and do not benefit the students in any way. Elementary, middle, and high school students are forced to quit their passion and feel that their talents are not supported by their schools. Although many are not aware, there is a strong connection between arts education and academic achievement. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts in many public schools, the art classes are first on the list to be cut. It is important that the students, parents and teachers

Many would argue that sports have a greater importance compared to the arts. Not only this, but many would say that art is not important enough to have a place in public schooling. However, those who have this mindset do not understand the countless amount of benefits that arts education has in an everyday student's life. Art education refers to education in music, dance, the visual arts, and theater. The engagement of students in the arts are essential to every student's educational career. However art programs always seem to come short in funding and this can later negatively impacts a student’s academic career. Budget cuts would be defined as the act of reducing budgeted expenditures. Budget cuts can come about due to a decreasing amount of money used to split among various school programs. The board members of school districts are constantly trying to get more resources. However, in the end, there is not enough money to cover for so many teachers, supplies, and programs. As budget cuts arise, the arts are almost always immediately targeted. The budget cuts would cut down funds for art supplies, musical instruments, and art teachers. In addition to funds that order to hire art organizations for programs which provide arts education services for students. Many public schools are struggling with budget cuts, resulting in the continued elimination of art programs across school districts throughout the nation. Due to budget constraints, fewer schools offer art classes today. Due to the fact that arts education is infrequently seen as a number one priority in public schools, there is little funding put into place and because of the diminishing amount of art programs, students are being deprived of the benefits that arts education can provide for them academically and non-academically.

How would you feel if one of your favorite subjects was cut from school? You would feel disappointed or sad right? That is how I would feel if fine arts programs were cut from my school. For me, the arts are an outlet of my soul where I can explore my passion, and express my creativity. There are some school officials that say cutting arts funding would save money that could go towards better funding, but some neuroscientists say cutting arts funding might be a bad idea, since the arts have some very important benefits such as, improved motor skills and better language development. Also with cut funding, we would have more unemployed workers since all the teachers who taught those programs would be laid off and would lose their jobs. There are many disadvantages and advantages of cutting the arts, but I believe fine arts programs should not be cut from schools.

In today’s school systems, art and music classes are not mandatory to be taught. This makes them very vulnerable to budget cuts in struggling schools. It is estimated that more than eighty percent of schools nationwide have experienced cuts to their budgets since 2008 (Metla). Every child in America deserves a complete education, and a complete education includes the arts. Due to budget cuts, many students do not receive instruction in art and music and therefore do not receive a full education. Music and art classes in schools are just as important as core classes and should not be subject to budget cuts.

One of the largest issues with fine arts implementation is the narrow effects. Garcia et. al conducted research that attempted to determine the effect fine arts have on standardized test scores. The researchers found that specific students attending schools with dense fine arts programs scored higher on the state standardized test; however, this improvement does not imply that fine arts will effectively cure the education decline. When analyzing the results, one sees that the fine arts mainly affect one group of students: at-risk students. The term “at-risk students” generally includes English Language Learners and low socioeconomic students. The research found that the at-risk students exposed to fine arts programs were more likely to have higher scores on the state standardized test specifically on the English Language Arts portion. This research suggests that if these at-risk students are exposed to the fine arts their test scores will increase on this specific portion of the test.

In order to revamp Core tested programs, schools have been shifting focus to those areas and changing instructional times for various classes, which prevents students from achieving their full potential in the affected classes. Instructional time is important, especially in the fine arts. In order to have an arts program with the tangible results and benefits previously explained, elementary students require to have at least 50 hours of instructional time in order to give them a solid base in art disciplines (Good, 374). The schools who would prefer to focus their resources on the Core tested programs will see improvement in the Core areas, but there are other subjects that leave a footprint along the beach of test scores that help improve

Greek philosopher Aristotle defines the arts ¨as the realization in external form of a true idea, and is traced back to that natural love of imitation which characterizes humans, and to the pleasure which we feel in recognizing likenesses.¨(IEP). The fine arts which have been a part of human history for 30,000 years have played an essential role in the development and advancement of our societies. As of today, the fine arts are facing the danger of vanishing in the education system of the United States Schools in places like Minnesota, Michigan and Philadelphia struggle to obtain arts programs within their schools. Districts like the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district, have been struggling with raising student’s academic scores in courses

“Students who study art are 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and 3 times more likely to be awarded for school attendance” ("11 Facts about Arts in Education"). Music and art are clearly not two subjects that schools today can afford to cut off funding for based on this evidence. Music and art programs are responsible for increasing school attendance, which can lead to being one of the most important things in a student’s academic success in school. Students have to attend school and be present in order to attain the information from their classes and teachers if they wish to succeed. Better attendance means more students are in class, which means more students are getting the information they need to excel from their teachers, which ultimately means better grades and test scores for schools. As of today, arts are defined as core subjects in only twenty-six states in America (Mandel). If only twenty-six states are treating art education as a core subject, that means that twenty-four states are currently neglecting art programs and not considering them important to their student’s education. If more states are educated on the importance of art programs for young students, and the arts are defined as core subjects nationally, then there will be a

Funds have been cut in more than 80% of United States arts programs in schools. As kids who take part in some of these arts programs, we think that schools should stop cutting these programs. Some ways that we can save these arts programs are to require entry fees, have more booster clubs, and to give some money to the arts programs from the sports programs. These solutions would account for the problems that schools are having with funding their fine arts programs. If we used one of these solutions, the fine arts programs will be able to prosper.

For this reason, teachers, parents, and students should fight to help these programs remain in schools. Students involved in fine arts programs often develop skills

So why not integrate the arts into the curriculum? “Arts integration is the investigation of curricular content through artistic explorations. In this process, the arts provide an avenue for rigorous investigation, representation, expression, and reflection of both curricular content and the art form itself” (Diaz, Donovan, and Pascale, 2006, p. 14). The arts are composed of poetry, music, storytelling, drama, visual art, and creative movement or dance. With teachers immersed in 21st Century skills, and

Most people would agree that music and art programs in schools have a huge impact on students not only academically, but in just about every aspect of their lives. Studies have shown that students who are involved in music and art programs have an overall higher IQ and show signs of many other academic benefits. Participating in such programs also allow students the opportunity to express themselves artistically and show the world their perhaps otherwise hidden potential. We all know how fun it can be to show the world your unexpected abilities, and what better way to show those off than the place where we spend most of our day-to-day lives? Unfortunately, even with all these obvious benefits, when the school budget is short, the first

Schools that offer fine arts classes have lower dropout rates and raised attendance. The fine arts positively impact students of lower socioeconomic status more those of a higher  status. The fine arts have no barriers for race, religion, and culture when it comes to being involved in the arts. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be involved (Katy Independent School District). Without the arts these students have no outlet for creative capabilities and no way to express their talents. Students who need this way of expressing themselves are overlooked and they are the ones who need it the most (Dickson). When viewing the participation of arts in the eyes of a ten-year old, “It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff they have to think about” (Arts and Smarts: Test Scores and Cognitive Development).

Art, music, and other fine art classes are always the first things to go when schools have a budget cut, however, these things are important and necessary for children. It’s been proven that art not only to their creativity, but their academic achievements and advancements. On top of the academic and creative advantages, fine arts programs just mean a lot to some people. And it seems like the fine arts mean a lot to most students at Lewis Central High School. In my speech I’ll be focusing mainly on the art program. Now I don’t believe that our art program is at any risk of being cut, but I do believe that there are some issues that should be looked at, for example the lower classmen can take very few art classes, there are many outside art festivals and other opportunities that are not touched upon for those same lower classmen, and compared to other fine art programs the opportunities are minimal and the program itself is difficult to be apart of until later years of high school. I’ve been interested in art for as long as I can remember and recently, end of seventh grade to be exact, I decided to pursue it as a potential career, so I took as many art classes as I could. At the middle school, we were offered 1 art class a trimester and I was even lucky enough to be a teacher aide for Ms. Baker. I had the opportunity to enter contests and submit work to a festival, all in the span of one school year.