Why Art in Education is Imperative
Published May 4, 2005 - Calgary Herald

Not having art in education is equivalent to not having two halves in a whole.

According to an April Q web question, more than 65 per cent of voting Calgarians think one mandatory art class is not necessary at the high school level. Alberta's constant and continuing lack of funding to art programs at the junior and senior high school levels supports the theory that art just doesn't matter. Here's why it does:

Whether aware of it or not, we are engulfed by the arts each and every moment we exist. The beds slept on, toothbrushes used, clothes worn, cars driven, television programs watched, even the food eaten is designed by an artistic mind. These artistic minds, including interior, graphic, industrail and computer systems designers, and in remarkable demand. Designers like these have top-notch educations and skyrocketing salaries -- quite a difference from the stigma surrounding art that conjures images of "starving" artists, eccentrics, and non-conformists.

Even non-art-related occupations are greatly influenced by art. Says the 1996 Business Week article "The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education", "The nation's top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century." Art allows our scientists and mathematicians to step outside their theoretical boxes and create new soloutions to new and existing problems. In fact, "the very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Vally industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians." (Grant Venerable, "The Paradox of the Silicon Savior," as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools," The Centre for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989)

To those who still think art is economically unproductive, think otherwise. In Alberta alone, the arts sector employed more than 3500 people in 2004, brought in $19.6 million in taxes in that same year, and permanently adds more than $153.2 million to the Gross Provincial Product each year. A budding arts and culture environment increases tourism, simultaneously generating growth in related businesses such as hotels and restaurants.

However great the career and economic benefits of art, they are surpassed by the benefits achieved in childhood. Art, whether fine or functional, is what develops young minds into all-encompassing, objectively-thinking ports of intellet. It is widely recognized that skills in studying, communicating, thinking, reasoning, remembering, imagining, and learning are greatly improved through art. This also holds true for aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning and judgement. It has been noted that those students who participate in the arts consistently acieve higher scores on SAT exams -- some even say the more artistic studies one is involved in, the higher the SAT score. Music, often considered the most intellectually beneficial art, teaches multi-tasking at its finest:

"Music requires the integration of eye-hand coordination, rhythm, tonality, symbol recognition and interpretation, attention span, and other factors that represent synthetic aspects of human intelligence. In addition, critical thinking, problem-solving, and learning how to work cooperatively toward shared goals are all skills which are reinforced through music education." (MENC - The Association for Music Education "Benefits of Music Education" brochure, Spring 2002)

Social benefits are also regularly seen: because of the sense of achievement, art students tend to have higher self-esteem. Self-discipline and responsibility are increased, and, due to the fulfillment of being productive, students have an increased motivation to learn. Because art broadens students' understanding and appreciation of the world around them, it improves cultural and historical awareness; it initiates a curiosity about their surroundings. What better time than now, the days of kamikaze assaults and corrupt governments, to inspire respect and to cultivate knowledge about the world we create?

Why we would deprive our children of these vast and abundant benefits of art, I cannot imagine.