Art Programs Being Removed from Schools
The music you listen to on your way to work. Your favorite series. Even the things displayed on your screen every day. These things would only exist with creativity and innovation being fed and nurtured.
So what happens if they are removed from schools across the country?
Schools, especially public schools, are being forced to choose which programs have more importance over others due to changes in budget cuts. Core subjects such as English and mathematics are being favored over the arts.
State exams do not have a section for arts, so schools do not see it as essential.
The fewer students involved with the programs, the fewer teachers are hired yet willing to be art teachers in their schools.
What started the budget cuts in the first place?
When the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB Act) was passed, it put more focus in schools on core subjects like math and reading.
Because of the focus on these subjects, schools are forwarding more money to areas requiring standardized testing to keep the scores high.
The NCLB Act caused schools to focus on grades and test scores while pushing the funds to keep those numbers high; art classes that required schools to purchase supplies for students were cut first, leading to a huge drop in arts opportunities in schools.
Having a balanced school regime with various subjects, including the arts, has been a way for students to stay attentive and involved in their school’s environment and has been proven to assist with better academic performances.
Steve Seidel, director of the Arts in Education (AIE) Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and former director of Harvard’s Project Zero, which advocates and does research on arts education, states:
“Providing powerful learning experiences for large groups of people is an enormously difficult task, and we don’t have the resources to do it,
I don’t accept the premise that most of the education we’re attempting is adequately resourced to address the task, and arts education is one of the many compromises.
Who suffers? What does it mean to a child who can’t have art? Who can’t have music?”
Does molding young minds to help the system succeed with better numbers hold more value than a child’s well-being and ability to express themselves at school?
