There is an article in the New York Times by Robin Pogrebin I really appreciated concerning this question. It is well understood that fine arts in the education curriculum greatly improve performance in other subjects. As was reported in Pogrebin’s article, James S. Catterall, a professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that students who had more involvement in the arts in school and after school scored better on standardized tests. The article, however, suggested that this argument is not good enough;“any superintendent is going to say, ‘If the only reason I’m having art is to improve math, let’s just have more math.’” (Pogrebin) Researchers from an arts-education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education decided it was, therefore, important to find other justifiable reasons to support the cause of keeping art in the curriculum. “The researchers found that ‘Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and justify such judgments,’” (Pogrebin) " In a curriculum crowded with academic subjects and factual learning, art is a welcome means of learning about oneself and the world. " (Emphasis Art) These kinds of skills will be crucial for children to have acquired by adulthood. They need these skills to succeed in life, and if art can help develop those skills, taking art out of the curriculum would be doing the children a great disservice. A web page from the University of Michigan suggested another aspect of the importance of having fine arts in the classroom that I hadn’t thought of. “As a child progresses through school it is increasingly difficult for parents to be involved in helping with homework and schoolwork in general. This is because in many instances, parents lack or forget the knowledge that is required to assist their children in subjects such as math and science. Art provides a means for parents to be involved because they tend not to feel as intimidated by a lack of educational background in the subject. Art projects can be an excellent means for parent to encourage and become active in their child’s academic life.” Parents need to feel like they are part of their child’s education so that they can consequently enforce the idea that education is important. When parents never get involved with their child’s schooling, it makes the child feel like education is not important them and they don’t push themselves to succeed. Art in the classroom provides so many opportunities for development, and opens doors between parents and children concerning education. I understand the value of art, and will supplement it in my classroom as much as I can.
*The New York Times, Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in Schools, Aug. 4, 2007, Robin Pogrebin
*Emphasis Art
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