Arts Education

 In the field of education, with higher and higher emphasis placed on standardized testing, subjects like art, theater, and music seem to be fading into the background. However, arts education and incorporation of the arts is a crucial part of learning for many students. In a previous blog post I discussed the Whole Child approach to education, which states that it is important to help students grow into well-rounded individuals, and provide them with skills that will benefit them even outside of the classroom. Arts education helps to foster that growth by giving students more than just reading and math instruction in school, and in a lot of schools, arts programs are dwindling. This time is often not considered necessary or valuable to students because it will not help them prepare for standardized testing. However, there is a lot of evidence that suggests that arts education is largely important to a child developing into a well-rounded student. Emerging comprehensive programs at schools across the country are approaching arts education in a new way. They are using the arts as a tool for learning, creating more hands-on arts experiences, and incorporating the arts into core classes. The incorporation of the arts into education helps foster creative thinking, teamwork, as well as intrinsic motivation in students. These skills can help students in all subject areas, as well as on standardized tests. It has also been shown that the benefits of arts education are also seen in adulthood. Adults who participate in the arts are thought to possess behaviors that positively contribute to the health of our society such as social tolerance and increased civic engagement.

A child is painting abstractly using 
green, brown, and blue paint. 
The child is wearing an apron, and 
a yellow shirt with gray and orange
stripes.

As a student, I always loved spending time in the art and music classrooms. I found this time to be such a fun break from core subjects, and I felt less pressure in these environments. Especially in elementary school, art and music classes allowed time for me and my classmates to have more fun while learning. I think that incorporating the arts into lessons in core subjects could help students stay engaged. I often found that assignments that allowed me to be creative and artistic were the most fun, and I found that I was more intrinsically motivated to do well and learn the material. I hope to incorporate arts education into my own classroom as much as I can, and hope to encourage my students to have fun while learning by incorporating the arts into my lessons. I believe that more comprehensive approaches to core subjects that include art or music can help decrease burnout among my students and keep them engaged in difficult subjects. Just because certain subjects are thought to be more important than others, and the pressure to preform well is higher, does not mean that these lessons need to be rigid and boring. I believe that arts education and incorporating the arts into a general education classroom is something that all teachers and school districts should be trying to do as much as possible. The student benefit from this is unparalleled, and it is clear that students enjoy the arts.