The Benefits of Art in Education
I’m assuming all parents and kids want to have a good education, because education is the key to the future. Art can help enhance someone’s education. There have been numerous studies and they have shown that art actually helps students improve their test scores. However, most schools don’t have an art program. The creative arts are victim to budget costs in many, many schools. Many schools don’t have efficient art programs but we do need art in our education, because art programs can help struggling learners, enhance and improve academics.
Art programs in schools can enhance and improve the student's academics. First, research shows that art is connected to the things most parents want for their kids. Some include academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity (Why Arts Education is Crucial). Also when kids are involved in art they are involved with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill (Why Arts Education is Crucial).  Arts in education can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork (Why Arts Education is Crucial). According to a 2005 report by the Rand Corporation about the visual arts they "can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing, creating the foundation to forge social bonds and community cohesion” (Why Arts Education is Crucial). Second, high income families have much more exposure to the arts. For example, Mozart for babies, tutus and dance for toddlers, and family trips to the museum (Why Arts Education is Crucial). Low income families often don’t have that kind of access to the arts. Arts through education enables these kids to have some exposure to the arts. This enables the lower income students to be equal with the higher income kids. Third, Comprehensive, innovative arts initiatives are starting to catch on throughout school districts (Why Arts Education is Crucial). They are trying to use the arts as a learning tool. For instance using music notes to teach fractions, writing and performing a play about the class subject, and playing Mozart in the halls every day (Why Arts Education is Crucial). All of these changes are starting to get some good results. In conclusion, schools should start adding or improving art programs because if they do, art will only enhance our youth’s education.
Arts programs in or out of school can help struggling learners. The arts can’t cure the struggle for learning that some kids deal with. However, art can give a sort of lifeline for children with learning disabilities. One girl named Carly was diagnosed with sever, double deficit dyslexia (How the Arts can Help). Although her mother Laura describes her as a “hardworking, compassionate child with an active imagination, and solid thinking skills (How the Arts can Help). She accomplished these titles through the arts. Carly will draw out certain images to help her remember certain words (How the Arts can Help). Her teacher also allowed her to sculpt instead of doing a research paper (How the Arts can Help). This allowed Carly to express her ideas, which would have been much harder for her if she had written the paper (How the Arts can Help). Arts can also help people like Jan’s son. He has ADHD, sensory processing disorder, and bipolar disorder (How the Arts can Help). He was having some trouble staying focused, and keeping himself together (How the Arts can Help). He was often coming home and “falling apart”, but “he can easily problem solve through art” (How the Arts can Help). He also takes an art class outside of school. “He loves the class and comes home clam, happy, proud of his creations, and wanting to draw” says Jan (How the Arts can Help). Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Education agree with Laura and Jan. A study shared at the 2009 Learning, Arts, and the Brain Summit reported that children showed more motivation, paid closer attention, and remembered what they learned more easily when the arts were involved in their school (How the Arts can Help). In conclusion arts can help children with learning disabilities catch up to their classmates and excel in school.
Unfortunately most schools don’t have a very good arts program. Evidence supports that the education of the arts has been decreasing for more than three decades (Why Arts Education is Crucial). It is a result of tight budgets and the states enforcing mandates that basically state that the arts are good but they aren't essential to education (Why Arts Education is Crucial). Also pressure to raise kids test scores have left less class time for the arts and almost anything that isn’t math or english/reading. "If they're worried about their test scores and want a way to get them higher, they need to give kids more arts, not less," says Tom Horne, Arizona's state superintendent of public instruction (Why Arts Education is Crucial). There's lots of evidence that kids immersed in the arts do better on their academic tests (Why Arts Education is Crucial)."When you think about the purposes of education, there are three," Horne says. "We're preparing kids for jobs. We're preparing them to be citizens, and we're teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two." (Why Arts Education is Crucial). It's no surprise that many districts have zeroed in on the tests. Forty four percent of districts had increased time in elementary school English language arts and math, and they decreased time spent on other subjects, like art (Why Arts Education is Crucial). An analysis, released in February 2008, showed that 16 percent of districts had reduced elementary school class time for music and art (Why Arts Education is Crucial). They had done so by an average of thirty five percent, or fifty-seven minutes less art  a week (Why Arts Education is Crucial). We need to start helping the kids around the world. Even just little changes like the ones Comprehensive, innovative arts initiatives are implanting in schools. In conclusion, more exposure to art can improve kids test scores, learning experiences, and education in general.
Work Cited
"How the Arts Can Help Struggling Learners. Music & Arts ." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
"Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best." Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct.2015.