Here is an essay from one of my current students that I would like to share with you all.
We are in a time that is begging for creative, innovative and dedicated employees.
However, we are also in a time where it is becoming "ok" to reduce, or even eliminate, the time, quality instruction, exposer and opportunity for our children have with the Arts.
Below is an essay, that was written in ILA class, that states one student's "choice" about the arts:
by: Horseshoe
Over the past 13 years, schools all throughout America have started to deprive their students of various Art programs. The total number of middle school students involved in the Arts has tragically declined by 11% since 1999 (Johnson 2007). That means 11% of already participating band, choir, drama, art, or creative writing students got the one thing they love permanently ripped away from them! If the Arts are such an important part of the American culture, then why are school districts all across America either cutting or lessening their support of things such as band or choir? It seems as if the world took away things like test scores and statistics, then school boards across the United States wouldn’t have a purpose to exist anymore. The beneficial aspects of music and artistic subjects have somehow been overlooked, even though research contradicts nearly every reason for these parts of the educational world to be cut. Because of their positive effects throughout all aspects of life, the Arts should be given more support within the United State’s school districts.
For instance, school Art programs give kids a positive outlet in an environment where they can enjoy what they are doing and learn at the same time. Imagine the boy who rapidly dashes from one class to another, just to avoid bullies. Imagine him sitting alone at lunch. Imagine how much hatred he must feel towards school right now. And then he remembers that next period is his band lesson! This newly remembered thought makes all the calamities, experienced by going to school, worth it. For many students a band, chorus, or drama room may be their only “happy” place within their school. And isn’t a healthy and fun environment for learning what teachers and parents want? Music, and any other artistic classes a student may partake in, are healthy ways for a students to express themselves instead of getting into other things that could initiate asinine behavior. As they say, idol hands are the devil’s workshop. Therefore, what better way to keep students focused on academics, than to allow kids access to something they will enjoy learning about!
In addition to giving kids an appropriate outlet for the vexations of being a student, the Arts teach many valuable lessons. Similar to sports, being involved in some form of the Arts can help a student learn group cooperation or teamwork. Working with others and respecting others’ opinions is an important part of the Arts, especially in drama and art classes when conductive criticism comes into play. It’s just like in sports when a coach makes a comment on how the team, as a whole, could’ve done a better job and the team knows that the coach means this for their own good and not to be mean. Students need to learn how to deal with these types of situations at an early age, so they will have experience in it before they have to go off and get a job. Another aspect of the “grown-up” world that can be taught within a music or art class is time management. Yes. Time management. The one thing that the business life revolves around is time management. “Get this done before Friday. This needs to be finished and handed in to the supervisor by the end of the month.” Most people have heard these things from their boss before, and if not, then they will eventually. For those who have experienced the necessity for dead lines by participating in school plays or band ensembles, where lines and music needed to be perfected by a certain date, will have an advantage over those who have not.
Furthermore, the few things that schools seem to love now-a-days, statistics and test scores, have scientifically proven the Arts to be of influential value to students’ grade point averages (GPA’s). When a study researched the differences between students enrolled in an excelling versus no-one-cares-about-what-this-means-to-the-students Arts programs, their results were quite remarkable. These being that students had 20% higher test scores in Math and 22% higher English test scores if they were in a well-run Art program (Johnson 2007). It was also discovered that kids involved in four or more years of anything like band, chorus, drama, or art classes scored, on average, significantly higher on the SAT’s than those who had no artistic background (2005)! Now doesn’t it seem frivolous to take away something that will actually increase American students’ grades, if that is what America has been aiming for?
Overall, the Arts do not only impact a student’s academic life, but all parts of their everyday lives in a helpful way. Life is a challenging thing. And with an appropriate outlet, life lessons to help along the way, and great grades, one can go very far in life. The Arts are just one way for a student to get help with all of these things and more. Therefore, they should be greatly supported within not only the United States of America, but every country throughout this great planet that homes human race, Earth.
Cited
"Benefits of Music Education." VH1 Save The Music. VH1 Save The Music, 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.vh1savethemusic.com/benefits>.