The Importance Of Arts Integration

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

These courses teach students specific technical and thinking skills needed to succeed in school and college. Students need to have the chance to be creative, too, though. Budget cuts and limited funding can cause problems for school arts programs, but many people are willing to support arts education in public schools if they see how much it really benefits the students. Courses in the arts deserve just as much appreciation and recognition of just how important they are to students’ lives as math, science, history, and literature

“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.

By having art programs in schools students gain skills such as, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, integration of multiple skill sets, and working with others. Qualities such as these are very necessary for creating exemplary students. Arts have already proven to help with many long standing problems but critical thinking is needed for jobs in the outside world. “ … Creating art supports problem-solving, creative thought and critique like no other discipline.” ( Schoales,2) By participating in artistic classes students gain discipline that most classes fail to teach. These valuable lessons learned from art can’t be found anywhere

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

The pairing of arts integration in the classrooms and a structured arts rich learning environment is the most effective way for students to fully express their creativity and to thrive in academic studies; but, even though using both tactics is the best way, it is not used as often as the majority of school systems place a greater importance on standardized testing based subjects. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stated that the integration of the arts is “an approach to teaching where the students can construct and demonstrate an understanding through the usage of an art form.” This “approach” engages the students in a way that builds their creative processes and connects the subjects together more cohesively. This cohesion is why arts integration is of importance for the schools systems, which have increased scores, and the students, which not only enjoy their education but also learn and understand more

Schools and educators are beginning to understand the value of inclusion of art education in K-12 curriculum more and more each year. So much so, that many states are adopting common core standards and hiring highly qualify teachers to teach in the subject area of visual arts. “Research over the past decade reveals areas where effective arts education strategies, especially arts integration techniques, have yielded practical and impressive results,” (Education Digest, 2011). Part of what is driving this initiative is the understanding that some students learn most effectively through the arts (Robinson, 2013). Recent research reflects that art integration correlates with low-performing learners by increasing test scores. Studies conducted in North Carolina and Oklahoma with art integration programs tracked consistent gains in student achievement as compared with state and district averages

Through the recent years, school budget cuts have led to the discontinuation of many classroom and extracurricular activities, including the visual and performing arts. Yet, because of this, classrooms are losing out on a very effective tool that can help aid the academic and social-emotional developments. According to Lorie Scott, Sallie Harper and Mathew Boggan, “Art integration helps students to engage in meaningful learning as well as understanding at a much more defined and deeper level” (2012, p.83). Unfortunately, arts programs are limited to only the wealthier schools and have been eliminated from those schools for the more marginalized youth including English language learners and that of inner cities (Lorimer, 2011).

There once was a time in our society that the arts took a strong role in the lives of our young youth and community, but the stress of regulations and test requirements has put the arts in the hot seat. There is no amount of fine art that students would not benefit from if teachers consistently incorporated it in their classrooms. The importance of arts should not be thrown aside for the sake of achieving test scores. There are 6 critical reasons why communities should not be so quick to cut the arts programs and unintentionally hinder students growth.

The arts have been long-recognized as a vital component of the well-rounded student, but for the past several decades, the importance of arts programs in many U.S. schools has been steadily compromised (Rabkin & Redmond, 2006). Pressure to compete internationally has influenced educational institutions to believe that an almost exclusive focus on academic fundamentals is the sole way to raise standards and close the achievement gap (Sholl & Sweetland, 2016). Katz-Buonincontro, Phillips, and Witherspoon (2015) expound on the predicament of today’s schools: expected to promote twenty-first century skills, including creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, leaders are simultaneously pushed to uphold standards-based

One of reasons is educational budget cut due to previous years’ economic slowdown. The adverse economic situation which requires redistribution of funds, accompanied by the sharpening focus by national and state educational policy makers on core subjects’ achievements, directly impacts the availability of arts programs at school. Unlike Japan, Netherlands, Hungary and other countries who mandated the arts be integral parts of the standard curriculum and successfully infused them into their educational institutions, the arts in the United States typically connected with those who are “particularly gifted in aesthetics”

When used well, the arts are the cement that brings all the disparate curricular areas together. In the best schools, this is often the case. The arts are valued for their interdisciplinary potential. The result is a more cohesive curriculum in which students explore relationships across disciplines. . . . the arts in conjunction with other aspects of the curriculum afford students more complete and compelling conceptions. (p. 7)

Having arts in school helps students with learning and decrease the dropout rate. The article states, “Washington said the arts classes taught her about collaborate with others. They also helped her learn to be responsible and to think outside the box.” Arts in school can help students figure out patterns and think by using multiple perspectives. The article provides these quotes, “‘It's not that the arts are something to put on in the final period of the day once all the 'real work' is done,’ Washington said. ‘Arts are actually how we can help them get the 'real work' done.’” Art in school also provides a way to improve the understanding of core subjects in school. Another quote says, “Gubitz said the arts are an ‘accelerator’ for improvements

Arts integration is a powerful way to help students learn, as it helps them develop critical thinking skills. With art integration, the students cannot give cut and dry answers to the questions in the classroom, they have to think and they have to apply what they know about the subject matter. Some concepts in subjects such as math and physics may be hard to grab and just explaining to students and giving them the steps may not work for everyone. Some concepts are better learned with visual hands on objects and making models. I have also seen how easily bored students of all ages can get when learning, integrating arts gets them to think creatively and it influences learning on an entirely different level. Integrating arts will also help the student that is a more kinesthetic learner. It can help the visual and auditory learner as well to further grasp a deeper understanding of the concept. Instead of using exams and papers to test the students’ knowledge of subject matter, a form of art can be used to assess the students’ comprehension. Some students get anxious when they have a test coming, and even if they know all of the information, they can still not showcase what they know on the test. Since the goal of the classroom is to make sure all students are learning and retaining what they have learned, using integrated arts to assess the

The earliest forms of art education in America were not in public schools but taught privately amongst individuals during its infancy. As the decades passed, the emphasis on the arts was regarded as individual study for the wealthy, showing signs of a well-educated person, and persisted well into the 19th century. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that art education started to lose its foothold. With the impending World Wars and the Depression in between, education in general was more focused on the survival of the country, and producing a stable work force rather than knowledge itself. The revival of art education has struggled since to be a prominent