Schools and Arts

1125 Words3 Pages

Assignment #4

School is an institute for educating children and adults that wish to gain success and become

enriched. However, schools everywhere are shutting down extracurricular activities and cutting out

classes such as art, ceramics, band, choir, orchestra, and dance that give students potential to thrive in

their lives. People claim that they want their kids to be well-rounded, confident, and smart, but are

dismissing classes that are essential to building any of those. Schools should not cut the fine arts

programs because this can lead to students becoming less socially confident, experience difficulty with

motor skills and spatial intelligence, and lack creativity later in life.

Art is nearly everywhere: in homes, supplies, human souls, and even in the food people eat. It

gives people substance to their lives and a feeling of excitement. Society unknowingly pushes young

adults to get creative, but it is becoming difficult to do so now because these people are lacking skills

and talent that are essential for innovation. In the book, Strong Arts, Strong Schools, by Charles

Fowler, he says, “Although the American public tends to underrate the arts industry as minuscule and

insignificant, in reality it is one of the primary engines of the economy” (17). Fowler conveys the

significance that arts have in American society because it is thought of as a commodity in modern times.

A performance or piece of art, for example, are “sold” to observers and patrons. This art enriches the

lives of the purchasers and is often the livelihood of the producer of the art. Art is timeless. It changes or

becomes “historic”; the patrons of art preserve it in paintings, recordings, photos, and so forth. With

more exposure to the ar...

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...rong Arts, Strong Schools. New York, New York. Oxford University

Press, 1996. Print.

“Fact Sheet about the Benefits of Arts Education for Children.” www.artsusa.org, 2013. 5

Nov. 2013. http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/advocacy/funding_resources/default_005.asp

Rickarda, Nikki, Jorge Vasqueza, Fintan Murphy, Anneliese Gilla, et al. “Benefits of a

classroom based instrumental music program on verbal memory of primary school children: a

longitudinal study.” files.eric.ed.gov, 2010. 10 Dec. 2013. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ912414.pdf

Wilmerding, Virginia, Donna Krasnow.“Motor Learning and Teaching Dance.”

www.iadms.org. International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, 2009. 5 Nov. 2013.

“The benefits of Music Education,” and “Playing music is good for your brain.”

www.vh1savethemusic.org, Vh1 Save the Music Foundation, 2013. 5 Nov. 2013.

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