Should schools cut art classes and programs?

This is definately a hot topic in education today. There has been debate about this topic for years. Does art actually benefit students? And if so, how? Does it harm them? Why is it that when budget cuts are made, music and art are the first to go?

In 2009 Nadia Abramson posted an article titled, "Academics should be everyone's top priority." Below is an excerpt from her article that sums up why many people are agaisnt the arts.

"School is supposed to be an academic environment. But the arts have somehow infested the hallways and taken thousands of students hostage with pretty colors and soothing sounds.Students go to school to learn the derivative of 48 x 2 and the Kreb's Cycle, not to paint abstract nothingness or to sing bad choral music." (http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2009-02-19/features/0902180109_1_art-classes-electoral-college-students)

In contrast to this view, you can take a look at many pro arts sites such as:

• http://www.afterschoolartsprogram.org/
• http://www.nea.gov/pub/ARTsAfterschool/how.html
• http://www.youngrembrandts.com/home.aspx

They all talk about what they do to help enrich kids and how the arts can help. One article I found in my research stuck out to me though, because it gave a very different and in depth reason as to why arts in schools are important. "Art for our sake" was an article featured in the Boston Globe in 2007 by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland. They discuss an analysis and study of how art programs and classes benefit children. Most pro-arts enthusiasts say that students involved in the arts have better tests scores. These ladies disagree and say that what art improves is a set of skills learned no where else in the education system. These skills can be used later in life and applied to many different areas, not just meaningless test taking. To paraphrase or sum up the article's main points, these women believe that "eight studio habits of mind" are taught in art classes and can be applied to life. These habits are; persistence, expression,making clear connections between what is learned in a classroom and the real world applications they can have, observatio skills, envisioning skills, innovation, exploration, and self evaluation/ constructive criticism. The entire article can be found. (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/09/02/art_for_our_sake/)

My view towards art is kind of in the middle. I understand that we can not always afford the art programs and that if it is a choice between academics and art, academics must come first. However, there are several non profit organizations that donate and volunteer to provide after school art programs. One such program changed my life. I started going to Girls Eye View in the 8th grade. It was an all girls, after school, dark room black and white photography class. I learned so much more about myself, my friends and peers, and life in general. My sophmore year I was a student leader of the group and we had even got our high school art teacher to start a digital photography class for freshman in the school. When we lost the space for G.E.V. we moved to the Adult Learning Center (where you get a G.E.D.) and taught digital photography there for my junior and senior year. This program is still in place. During my time with them I learned that I could be an artist in everyday life, that I had the know how and the confidence to be a leader, that I could teach others what I know. I got thousands of opportunites to share my art, my thoughts, my feelings, and my beliefs with the community, the school, and once I even got an art gallery exhibit in Amherst. I also got my work publicized in the paper and on local tv with my peers in the group.

This group and its members inspired me to be a photographer and a teacher. The Girls Eye View group is still going on today. It is a part of a larger organization called Youth Action Coalition. You can fidn out more about them at http://www.youthactioncoalition.org/index.html

Other programs by YAC include the video vanguards, a digital video arts program, through your eyes only, a youth dark room and digital photo group, and Get up Get down, teachin kids about activism. Below are some images from these groups and the YAC logo.