Education in the arts is essential to students' intellectual, social, physical and mental growth. Such a statement is common in curriculum guidelines. Yet when school boards are faced with budget pressures, arts programs are most often the ones considered for elimination. Decades of studies confirm the value of arts education with links to an incredible variety of benefits. And hundreds of articles have been written and speeches delivered making the case that the arts are part of the "basics", not a "frill."
Each of the arts is a discipline. We have created works of art, we have artists, performers, composers, choreographers and writers. The language of music, the visual arts and dance can not be expressed or described through the language of words. Howard Gardner classifies the visual, the kinesthetic and music as discrete intelligences.
The arts represent the aesthetic part of world contributing beauty and harmony in amazing diversity. It would be a stark world without the arts.
The arts can also function as a powerful tool affecting learning, understanding, motivation, mood and even health. The movie industry has harnessed this power very effectively. There are several schools which have developed an arts-based curriculum, where students have the opportunity to perform and create, to experience the aesthetic qualities, and to learn other subjects facilitated by the arts.
Lately we have been hearing a great deal about the arts and brain development: the music of Mozart enhances intelligence; and learning to perform as a young child appears to create a larger corpus collosum. We also hear about "windows of opportunity," the importance of beginning music study at a young age. Studying the arts also requires discipline, rigour, creative problem solving and, very often, teamwork, all important skills for functioning in the workplace.
Related Issues: Brain Development. Nature/Nurture. Stimulation/Enrichment. Parenting. Daycare. Kindergarten. Emotional. Social. Political (funding, relationships).
Reading: Walter Pitman. Robert Sylwester. Don Campbell. Howard Gardner.
Programs and Projects: Artsvision. ArtsSmarts. Lincoln Center. Getty Foundation. Community Schools of the Arts and Conservatories (USA, Can, UK, Europe, ). Magnet Schools / Fine Arts Schools. Waldorf Schools. Suzuki Method. Yamaha. Kodaly. Orff.
Related: Mozart Effect. Brain research. Multiple Intelligences.
Organizations: Coalition for Music Education. (Can, USA). MENC, CMEA.
Updated April 18, 2000