The Importance of Arts in Education

To strive for excellence, schools ensure their provided education is impressive, compared to other independent school districts in the area, delivering the correct tools and necessities in education to prepare their students for the real world. Schools want students to choose from numerous amount of class options, programs and organizations their district provides. However, some hesitate keeping art programs such as band, theater, art, culinary, choir etc. in their district, simply because it will not be necessarily needed for their time in school when in fact, the arts, most specifically band, is proven to create a more affective impact on the brain than other arts improving cognitive development, verbal memory, mathematics, phonological awareness, reading development and other skills.

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Cognitive development is heavily proven when introduced to arts, resulting greater than those who are not artistically active. As a child, painting activities, drawing or dancing engage the brain to develop other complex ways of thinking when continued. How? They are “natural forms of art”. According to Author Sousa“The arts are not just expressive and affective, they are deeply cognitive. They develop essential thinking tools–pattern recognition and development; mental representations of what is observed or imagined; symbolic”. This proves that something as simple as drawing, singing or dancing to a child, is more than increasing their mentality ability and developing different complex forms of thinking. “Although the arts are often thought of as separate subjects, like chemistry or algebra, they really are a collection of skills and thought processes that transcend all areas of human engagement.” (Sousa). Cognitive development plays a critical role in a child’s future, leaving permanent abilities in and outside of school, keeping this gift through life because of effortless habits through childhood.

Not only does musical training seek unique cognitive skills, musical training shares the same brain pathway process as mathematics therefore, is quite beneficial towards math. Music is closely connected to mathematics by ratios, proportions, music intervals, arithmetic progressions in music to geometric progressions in geometry, including the simplicity of counting one, two, three, four, in a measure. Researchers conducted a study that piano lessons would increase math scores, specifically focused on proportions and ratios which are difficult as an elementary student along with another group of student without piano lessons but with a computer software program. Four months after the study, the group of kids with musical training scored one-hundred sixteen percent higher on proportional mathematic skills than those without the musical training. According to Author Sousa, “These findings are significant because proportional mathematics is not usually introduced until 5th or 6th grade and because a grasp of proportional mathematics is essential to understanding science and mathematics at higher grade levels.” Math is known as a complex core class and is a subject that society does not know that makes it a lot easier on kids who study music at a young age. Another study in California took in students with low socioeconomic skills who were not involved with music, take music lessons eighth through twelfth grade following a test that would determine if the involvement with music would benefit kids’ in the class. The results of the study shown the musical training ” increased their test scores in mathematics and scored significantly higher than those low socioeconomic students who were not involved in music.” (Sousa). History and geography test scores were affected through the music lessons increasing by forty percent. Not only did the music lessons improve mathematic skills. But history and geography, which is beneficial for the other core classes in education.

Music is greatly related to mathematics but yet, in addition can also have an advantage in reading development. Identical to the brain’s responsive connections between music and math, music comprehension picks up specifically reading skills, allowing the brain to recognize auditory memory in a very intricate and extraordinary way. ” Researchers suggest this relationship results because both music and written language involve similar decoding and comprehension reading processes”(Sousa). Students’ reading fluency is finer when in constant musical training. The abilities of better reading development through art is an advantage in the classroom increasing test scores, and comprehensions compared to other kids who don’t study music. With reading being another complex core class, it will ease students who suffer from reading difficulty in their future, especially since reading is an everyday action for every movement in our body through thought processes during the day.

The arts assist many acts we do that we do not think of and expand our abilities as human beings to do certain activities with our brain other’s cannot. The arts create and benefit other skills that will determine how we perform in school to our education, followed by a project by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Justice Department called the “YouthARTS Development project”. The program established young adults involved in art programs increased cooperation with others, optimistic viewpoints towards school, self esteem along with other positive feedback that will greatly benefit through the students’ school years. ” the arts teach students how to learn from mistakes and press ahead, how to commit and follow through.”(Arts and Smarts). This proves the arts make useful tools and potential standards for students who will manage challenges and problems well, considering how difficult the task may be which will not only be useful in school, but in the real world. Fine arts are able to reduce dropout rates, create a sustainable and well-balanced individual increasing socioeconomic skills, and have a good sense of leadership. (According to Jessica Hoffman Davis from Harvard Graduate School of Education from Arts and Smarts)”We have been so driven to measure the impact of the arts in education that we began to forget that their strength lies beyond the measurable” . The statement made by Davis, proves we underestimate what the arts can really do what they can create within students apart of it. The arts do not make one smarter, but they can discover unlimited pathways of what a brain could really do when introduced to the studies of music.

Parents want their kids to turn out to be well balanced adults, but would be impossible without the engagement of both left and right sides of the brain, therefore, will require introduction to the Arts. The education system lies pressure in the four common core classes, without any consideration of the Arts, simply because learning how to play a trumpet is irrelevant to interest in the medical field or dancing and singing will not require you to be a lawyer. School districts need to be more aware of the potential their students could have through the arts if they take the time and learn about how important and relevant arts are with education . The brain awaits undiscovered passage ways and skills,as the importance of arts are waiting to “make a difference in education”

References

Bryant, Bob. “The Importance of Fine Arts.” Katy Independent School District. Bob Bryant, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 17

Evans, Karen. “Arts and Smarts.” Greater Good, Karin Evans, 1 Dec. 2008,

greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/arts_smarts

Rodale, Ardath. “Education: the human touch.” Prevention, Oct. 2003, p. 180. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=j020902&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA108882595&it=r&asid=e9345db4ee24c3da8cbe281ea9b36868.

Sousa, David A. “How the arts develop the young brain: neuroscience research is revealing the impressive impact of arts instruction on students’ cognitive, social and emotional development.” School Administrator, Dec. 2006, p. 26+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=j020902&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA156417562&it=r&asid=eb6b505e4a2204d78a0d342d22a3eda2.