Many young girls dream about being ballerinas when they grow up. Most adults think it is sweet, and some parents even sign their children up for dance classes. However, as they age, that dream of being a professional dancer appears to be inadequate. Why is that? In our culture, there is a lack of importance on the arts, and thus, a lack of funding. Many see the arts as frivolous and a cost that is not imperative to the success of a nation. On the other hand, one could ask how a country can be successful without a cultural identity that is largely created by the arts and humanities in the society. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that, “Any ‘advanced civilization’ must fully value the arts, the humanities, and cultural activity” (Deb). Being a professional artist of any kind seems like an unstable career because there is a lack of consistent and substantial funding for them. The only way to change the funding crisis is to fight the cultural tendency to dismiss the importance of the arts. This will happen through educating those who have yet to lose that sense of innocence, wonder, and imagination, and integrating the arts into their academic and social lives. In recent years there have been many events that have lead to the decline of arts funding. First, was the budget cuts due to the recession of 2008. “The problem within the public school districts is the decline of their arts education programs. In many cases, arts programs were among the first to go” (Ramos 1).
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
Art programs around the United States are being shut down due to the lack of funding and misunderstanding of the subject. Many people think that the arts are just about drawing and painting. However, literature, performing arts, and media arts are on the list too. Students who are involved in an art curriculum are more likely to be successful in school than those who do not take them.
“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.
Art programs in schools across the nation are in danger of being diminished due to budget cuts and lack of funding. Due to budget cuts, “... schools have been relying more on private funds and patrons of the arts to provide creative outlets for students” (Hambek). Because art is deemed as less important than other core classes, budget cuts that have been put into place almost automatically go straight to cutting funds for art
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.
Fine arts programs are rapidly being cut around the country. When school systems are running out of money the first programs to be eliminated are the fine arts. School board members have no idea of what they are doing to students. They are unaware of the many benefits of fine arts programs in their schools. They also do not know how to run a successful fine arts program. Since 1993, when legislators imposed revenue corps on public schools, school districts have been forced to make some hard decisions about the ways they can cut back spending. Music and art programs are usually among the the first to receive severe blows. “Fine arts are vulnerable to budget cuts partly because children are not tested in music
As in consequence of our troubling economy, budget cuts were inevitable. In the year 2008, more than eighty percent of schools nationwide had received budget cuts. Music and theater classes were cut to the full extent along with some art programs. Within the late 90s and early 2000s schools had theatre and dance classes available, ranging in the twenty percentile. Currently, that percent has dropped drastically to two percent. These are just brief statistics on the outcome of budget cuts and how quickly the outcome is the demise of the fine arts in schools nationwide.
The decline in music education programs in public schools is a result of budget cuts is becoming more visible. State-level arts spending has dropped from $409 million in the fiscal year 2002 to $354.5 million in the fiscal year 2003, and declined again to $272.4 million in 2004 (“Quick Facts”). It is clearly
Arts programs are being cut due to the lack of state government funding to public schools; this has been an ongoing issue for several years. Narric Rome, senior director of Federal Affairs and Arts Education at Americans for the Arts, voiced her concerns, “The cuts that have been occurring for the past couple of decades ... however, with this recession… The entire system is very unstable; teachers are laid off one school year and brought back the next, or most times not brought back at all. If we are lucky enough to bring these programs back, they won’t be for a couple of years. Which means some students who are in school during these difficult economic times will completely miss out on the benefits of arts education.” (Hawkins). Schools in low income areas are forced to drastically--sometimes completely--cut arts programs from the curriculum.
It has become a recent fact the Detroit Michigan public schools do not offer or have recently cut their arts program. Classes such as band, chorus, dance, foreign languages, and art are no longer an essential course and have altogether been cut from the budget. Although, The Detroit Free Press has reported on a new Detroit school board is pushing to bring some of these programs in their schools, in the beginning of the school year 2017 the school board was able to obtain half a million dollars which will go toward hiring 15 arts and music teachers. The new teachers who will then be spread between approximately 40 out of the 81 school’s public schools in the city of Detroit (Einhorn,2017). This is a good start in the right direction but
The reality in education has always been, when the money is tight, it’s time to get rid of something. Why, oh why does this have to be the case? The very first thing they look at is the arts. As stated by Charles Fowler, “In many schools, the status of the arts is fragile. When school systems face budget cuts, curtailments of art and music programs are an all-too common and seemingly easy solution. Reductions often come swiftly and ruthlessly, exacting debilitating losses on faculty and programs. Arts programs are sometimes eliminated by school administrators and boards of education without much anguish or serious debate, as if they are dispensable and unimportant, inconsequential and superfluous” (Fowler, 1996, p. 36).
I believe that arts-based education will greatly improve education in the US in the 21st century. The standardized test that is used now only evaluates what students learn in a classroom. Every student gets selection of questions and their level of knowledge is measured by these tests. This test fails to agnalg that not every student learns the same way. Students can learn different subjects through Self-expression and creativity. This test also does not help the students that know the materials but just do not test well. The arts-based education will help include the students that have been affected by the standardized test. The arts-based education will help all of the I believe that every child will benefit arts-based education. The purpose
During the early twentieth century, art education was seen as unproductive and more often not cost effective. However, in the 1950’s opinions about art education made a drastic change as Americans craved more self-expression. Art education began to flourish as the importance of art involvement became known (DeHoyas).