Why the Fine Arts Are Important :         

     The arts make a contribution to education that reaches beyond their intrinsic value as direct forms of thinking. Because each arts discipline appeals to different senses and expresses itself through different media, each adds a special richness to the learning environment. As students imagine, create, and reflect, they are developing both verbal and nonverbal abilities necessary to school progress. At the same time, they are developing problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. Research points toward a consistent and positive correlation between a substantive education in the arts and student achievement in other subjects and on standardized tests. A comprehensive, articulated arts education program also engages students in a process that helps them develop the self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for self-esteem and success for life.  

The arts teach students to: 

• Understand human experiences, both past and present;

• Adapt to and respect others' ways of thinking, working, and expressing themselves;>

• Learn artistic modes of problem solving, which bring an array of expressive, analytical, and developmental tools to every human situation;

• Understand the influence of the arts, in their power to create and reflect cultures, in the impact of design on virtually all we use in daily life, and in the interdependence of work in the arts with the broader worlds of ideas and actions;

• Make decisions in situations where there are no standard answers;

• Analyze nonverbal communication and make informed judgments about cultural products and issues; and, Communicate thoughts and feelings in a variety of modes, giving them a vastly more powerful repertoire of self-expression.

Source: National Standards for Education in the Arts.

The following are findings reported in Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning  (Fiske, 1999) that should be noted by every parent, teacher, and administrator: 

• The arts reach students not normally reached, in ways and methods not normally used.  (This leads to better student attendance and lower dropout rates.)

• It changes the learning environment to one of discovery. (This often re-ignites the love of learning in students tired of just being fed facts.)

• Students connect with each other better. (This often results in fewer fights, greater understanding of diversity, and greater peer support.)

• The arts provide challenges to students of all levels.  (Each student can find his/her own level from basic to gifted.)

• Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners. (The student does not just become an outlet for stored facts from direct instruction, but seeks to extend instruction to higher levels of proficiency.)

• The study of the fine arts positively impacts the learning of students of lower socioeconomic status as much or more than those of a higher socioeconomic status.  (Twenty-one percent of students of low socioeconomic status who had studied music scored higher in math versus just eleven percent of those who had not. By the senior year, these figures grew to 33 percent and 16 percent, respectively, suggesting a cumulative value to music education.)