It's the final countdown.

Art. In all its many forms, is an important venue for people of all ages, young or old, to express their feelings, their wants and even their needs. In recent times, the arts have been underfunded or eliminated in the public school system. Providing opportunity for self expression and communication in non-traditional ways, I believe, should be funded in public schools.  

Many a student may not be brilliant in math or english or social studies, but may shine in art.  Ask a student what their favorite class was in elementary school. Many would say art or music.  It is a class where one is allowed  to take a break from the traditional learning in a classroom and use self-expression to communicate.  One may learn about other cultures and forms of communication by someone who has created something beautiful.  It provides one a way to learn through creating and not just memorizing. 

Arts also include higher order thinking skills including, but not limited to, synthesis, evaluation, and “problem finding”. A study in Maryland shows that students who study art do better in academic subjects. It found that  integrating the arts with other subjects was particularly helpful in raising certain achievement levels. Only when you physically hold it or experience it are you truly able to comprehend it. 

By funding the arts, public schools would be funding self-expression and self-understanding. In creating art, one is able to express how one feels, what one thinks, or what something means in ways one wouldn’t be able to express with words. Art helps bring ones inner world into reality for everyone to understand. It is hard to express what a piece of art means to a child even though it may have touched them in a meaningful way. Children growing up have problems expressing how they feel. Through art are they are able to have a means of communication and express it. 

 

Some may say that school is a place for learning and not expressing oneself, but isn’t school really about preparing one for the real world?  Isn’t that a school's main objective?  In reality, learning involves many different experiences, seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.  Art encompasses all of these and it is why it should be mandatory for public schools to fund them. 

 

Creating opportunities for children to learn art and express themselves should be an important part of our school system. Without funding, it would make it difficult for a child to become the next Bach or Beethoven, Monet or Picasso, Barbra Streisand or Harry Connick, Jr.  How can funding be denied when so much is at stake?