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I NEED A SUBSTANTIVE RESPONSE TO THE DISCUSSION BELOW IN A MINIMUM OF 150 WORDS The arts were a big part of my education from 4th grade when I joined...
I NEED A SUBSTANTIVE RESPONSE TO THE DISCUSSION BELOW IN A MINIMUM OF 150 WORDS
The arts were a big part of my education from 4th grade when I joined the school chorus all the way through my senior year, throughout which I performed in the chorus, concert band, competition band, and several theatrical performances. My school experienced budget cuts just like more than 80% of schools across the country have since 2008 (Metia, 2015) but luckily for me, none of them affected the arts classes I took. The arts have been steadily disappearing from schools over the years, in the 1999-2000 school year visual arts were offered in 87% of schools. One decade later, in the 2009-2010 school year, only 83% of schools offered visual arts. In the same period of time, schools offering dance and theater classes went from 20% nationwide to 4% for theater and 3% for dance classes. (Metia, 2015) There are currently about 1.5% of the United States workforce whose primary source of income is their art. However the definition of an artist is expanding to include people who “utilize their artistic skills to derive income, further their creative work, or contribute to their community.” This enhanced definition leads to one of the implications or takeaways from the report that it is important to, “articulate and measure the benefits of artists and creative work to societal health and well-being.” (Chu, 2016) The increase in budgetary cuts in the arts seems to be a result of programs like No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards that put a heavy emphasis on the core subjects like math, science, and reading. The only pro for cutting funding to the arts that I could imagine is that putting the funding from the arts into subjects like math and reading or other programs, like sports teams, that creating revenue for the school. Emphasizing students studying subjects like math and reading will enable them to do better on standardized testing that the schools give which in turn will give the schools better funding based on how well the students do. “A school that consistently fails to meet adequate yearly progress standards may not be able to access some grants and other forms of funding. After five years of failure to meet AYP standards, a school can be closed altogether.” (Thompson, 2016) My school cut funding for some art classes and put the money into the football team for new equipment and improvements for the field because unlike the arts classes, the football team brought in revenue for the school. There are many cons to cutting funding for the arts and one of them is that the arts have been proven to improve performance in students overall learning. “Students who took four years of art classes scored 91 points higher on their SAT exams than those who took half a year or less.” (Metia, 2015) Students that participate in the arts also have a higher graduation rate and can keep at-risk youths off the street and away from trouble. From a fiscal standpoint cutting funding for the arts makes sense, but the success of the students should be the main concern for schools, not money. It’s truly a shame that arts program are heading downhill the way that they are but until federal funding recognizes the importance of the arts this downward trend will continue.
Chu, Jane. "Toward a Creative Future."Www.arts.gov. N.p., 19 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
Matia, Valeria. "School Art Programs: Should They Be Saved?"Www.lawstreetmedia.com. N.p., 14 May 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. Thompson, Van. "Do Standardized Test Scores Factor in to How Much Money a School Will Receive?"Www.oureverydaylife.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.
