Keeping Art in Schools

Imagine, you are driving down the road and you go to turn on your car stereo, yet nothing comes on. You may think it is not working, but what if it did not come on because there was no such thing as the art of music? What would the world be like without any art? No music, no paintings, no theatre, no type of art whatsoever. Art programs all across the country are being cut. The arts are not only utilized in therapeutic situations, but they are vital tools in helping children develop cognitive, social and personal competencies. More children than not have a specific area of the arts they like and participate in at school, and this is where their interests are fed. However, if we cut these programs, will students go out and participate or will it stop because they lack the time or financial means to get involved outside of school?

Art is not just a way to expand and develop. It is also a way to let your feelings out and a way to learn to cope. It is a tool of self expression; art has a way of letting a person deal with emotions that they either don’t know how to express, and can’t even begin to describe with words or don’t even consciously know they are struggling with. At St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco California you will find art therapist Joanne Cohen, who strongly believes in the healing power of dance and other creative movement. Cohen works with a small group of suicidal and depressed teens and just like thousands of other therapists from coast to coast she encourages the use of drawing, painting, playing or listening to music, and many other forms of art to help express feeling, fears and hopes of those who are in need of help. She truly believes in the healing power of art. One may question whether engagement in the arts can really help heal; the research of Doctor Michael Thaut suggests that at the very least music therapy does work. Doctor Thaut is a neuroscientist and professor of music and music therapy at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. A decade ago he had an idea: music or at least rhythm could help in healing patients. And he was right, after conducting research he found that music, specifically the rhythm helped patient’s recovery. “Rhythm acts like a big external clock. It helps the brain process information, plan and execute movement in synchrony. A strong beat triggers neurons to interact with each other in well-times patterns” (Thaut). The healing power of the arts fosters healing and self-awareness, and it’s quite a popular subject; just plug this phrase into the google search engine: “The healing power of the arts” and up will come over three-hundred and eighty thousand hits! According to the Dana website art therapy programs have gone mainstream. For example the University of Michigan Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital both offer art therapy programs to cancer patients to help improve their quality of life.

Music and theatre keep me going. I have found myself through the theatre program. Though the theatre I work with it is not a school program I got my start in my middle school theatre program, which no longer exists. If I would not have began in theatre in middle school I would not be working at a theatre today, and I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I have found an outlet where I can be myself. I have met so many new people and have gained experience in many areas of theatre that will help me in other areas of my life as well. I look at this and it makes me think, if this changed my life, what could it do for the students? Art has more of an impact on people than many may think. If people knew, maybe they would help keep these programs in schools

All types of art in schools are important, such as: music, theatre, painting, and cooking. I believe that in the long run cutting art programs will have a large impact on society as a whole; and it is not going to be small. I am very much in favor of keeping the arts in schools. I think we should be working harder to keep the programs in schools not only for the benefit of the students, but our benefit as well. Think of it this way: students who are involved with art programs are often more able to focus in class and better off in the development of a higher and more complex thought process. Students are able to think more abstractly and able to think outside the box when is comes to succeeding in their core classes, and students who succeed in their academic class are more likely to graduate, they are confident and more apt to not only go to college, but to go on to be productive members of society. These children are our future.

When I was in school, I remember looking forward to my drama and crafts class every day. These were two classes that I could let my guard down a bit, and express my creativity without someone saying that it was wrong or that what I was doing looked or sounded bad. Keeping in mind that there are certain aspects that did have to be right or a certain way, standards, however in these classes, very rarely are there limits therefore I was able to have fun and express myself freely.

Since many school districts have been limited on money many art programs have been cut from schools forcing students to find other hobbies and interests outside of school. Even the drama and crafts programs I had taken at a local middle school are now gone. If budget constraints continue to pull arts programs we are going to start seeing an adverse effect, and instead of our children becoming more interested in school and more focused and better members of society, they will begin to get discouraged and dropout rates will go up everything we have all worked so hard for will fall to pieces and it’s just a matter of time. Taking these programs out of schools often gives students no other way to express their creativity. Not only this, but having a ‘fun’ class such as art or band gives students a break in their day at school to put their heart into something they love and momentarily get away from the stress of school. For schools these programs have been cut from, some students have been able to find programs outside of school, however many students do not have the financial means to be able to join things outside of school.

Times have not only changed money wise though, nowadays things are more stressful and there is a lot more pressure for students to work harder and achieve more. Standardized testing and achieving high-test scores is now the main focus of our schools. Without classes like drama and art students miss that time during school to unwind and let off some steam and have to go through the entire day working in only academic classes like: math, English, history and other academic classes. Imagine going through a whole day of head hurting bookwork, and tedious testing with only one short break to eat. This is the norm in or schools now. Don’t get me wrong, of course students need these classes, they need the knowledge to move on, but they also would benefit from classes dealing with the arts. Maybe, should these ‘extracurricular’ classes be made apart of the normal curriculum? Educating students is more than cramming their heads with texts from a book.

Studies have shown that involvement in the arts helps students analytical and critical thinking skills, which in turn help them, understand concepts better in their core classes. Students are able to think deeper into the meaning of things and not just see things at face value. “Many do not associate the arts with ‘thinking’. We are aware of the product—the song the picture, the play—but less aware of the ‘process’ which creates the product.” (Cooper) Each program in its own way helps students gain knowledge and it will eventually circle around and end up helping society. In an article by Hanna Geshlin Honee Hess states that every type of art has a thinking process. She says that studying art helps to sharpen your creative, analytical, and critical thinking skills as well as cognitive development. Here is an example of how the process works. Pretend you are taking a ceramics class and you are given an assignment: to make a bowl on the pottery wheel. After you have completed making the bowl the instructor evaluates it and gives you feedback. What looks good on the bowl is it done correctly or are there faults to the bowl that make it unusable? How did your original idea change as you worked with your materials? When answering these questions, you have then analyzed the bowl and the skills you used (Geshlin). This is the critical thinking that students need and ceramics is one of many activities that get students to think like this. The more students’ use critical thinking and analytical skills in a fun environment, the more they learn because it’s fun for them.

Being involved with theatre has helped me gain valuable skills I can use in many areas of my life, and when I am out in my day-to-day life, who might I influence or help because of this knowledge? What could others who have gained similar knowledge do for society? Theatre is just one program that can be valuable, there are many others. One of the most important skills I have learned is social skills and how to work well with people as well as people management. I have stage-managed several plays, and these skills play a huge role in being a successful stage manager. You must not only work with the technical side of things like managing props, set pieces, and other backstage equipment, but you must also work with the actors and the other people who are helping with tech like your tech crew, lightening and sound. Communication is also a big part of things; you must communicate with other techs so you know when things are going to happen, and also what to do when things go wrong. One must also communicate and help out the actors, sometimes this is a big challenge, and it takes a lot of patience, which is another valuable skill. In a quote from Dr. Norman Weinberger from the Dana website, he says that they found that students who were involved in music and the arts were much more tolerant of other people's ideas and they were much more flexible in their approach to solving problems. They were much more willing to take intellectual risks and to read new things and have new experiences in school.

One part of the blueprint for the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ states that not only will funds be targeted to improve schools and teacher quality, but also that additional flexible funding will be provided at the local levels. If this is so, where is all of this money going? In a speech regarding the ‘No Child Left Behind’ act, president George W. Bush states, “If our country fails in its responsibility to educate every child, were likely to fail in many other areas.” To be logical and productive members of society children need life experience, much of which they can gain through various art programs. Though this act is not focused on the arts, this is just one aspect of the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’, however if this small, but important portion is not being enforced, what leads one to think that any part of it is?

Students who have these classes available and utilize them have a better chance of succeeding in life. According to studies the engagement in arts help the development of cognitive, social and personal competencies. They increase achievement and decrease delinquent behavior. Specifically researchers have found that art programs help students improve critical thinking, help communication, manipulation and understanding of complex things like math and language, which are core classes. Involvement in art programs helps develop higher thinking and helps increase imagination and judgment (Duncan).

"First of all you have the various senses, so envision you are looking at the [sheet music]. And you have to then take those notes and translate them into what they represent. So now we're not just visual, but we're doing symbolic manipulations. Then you have to execute that program through your motor cortex, so now you have to coordinate all that muscle activity. So when you've done that, you then hear what you've played and that feeds back into what you need to do next."(Weinberger)

By participating in these programs students can learn how to set goals and higher standards for themselves, and well as achieve the goals they have set for themselves. “You'll also develop fine motor skills and any skills particular to the art you're studying [and] you'll gain confidence in taking healthy risks, which improves self-esteem." Skills such as these are the foundation to a well-rounded person. A person could read every book and study every subject out there, but without the practical and life skills that are gained through the arts all there is, is book knowledge. If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose to have practical life skills any day. Now, don’t get me wrong without book knowledge society would not be very well off, but more than anything people need the skills that they can learn through participating in the arts. Many times participating in the arts helps people learn better and helps expand the mind. People learn how to think outside of the box, and not limit themselves.

The Dana Foundation has funded a two million dollar study to try and outline the exact affect that art education has on the basic cognitive brain development. This is the biggest study of its kind and it includes five of the countries top neuroscience labs. "There's vision, there's touch, there's hearing, there's symbolic interpretation, there's motor planning, there's motor execution, and there’s comparison of what you intended with what you get out of it. Playing music seems to be almost the ultimate form of brain exercise. I think that you're getting your own World Wide Web inside of your brain. That is, you have more brain cells, more circuits and more systems that are becoming interconnected. Now that interconnectedness gives you more pathways to solve a problem, and you can now become more flexible in the way you approach and think about problems and the way you actually solve them. All the findings to date point to all these kinds of advantages for brain function." (Weinberger)

With all of this research going on, I would hope to see some sort of ‘get arts back in, and keep arts in schools’ type of campaign sometime in the near future. People could get involved with art in the community whether it’s at a local children’s theatre or another type of community art. And if really attending an art-like events and ease your way into it. Until then, whenever you have a chance to speak up or get involved, do it! Even minor things that do not directly affect keeping art in schools can help. Whether you are going to enjoy the music and art booths, or if you are there to help out like I am it’s a great experience and though it may not challenge your thinking, you may be surprised at what you do learn. Art education is a very important part of life for school-aged children, and adults, and I think that if more people were aware of it’s true importance more people would be willing to fight to keep art programs in schools. Until then all

we can do is try and spread the word.