A Case for Preserving Arts Education
commentary by Daniel Duerden | January 31, 2012
Recently in New Jersey, students, teachers and parents are in a battle with the Wanaque School District school board to re-implement the instrumental music programs into the middle schools and high schools after they were cut in 2004. The music teachers are arguing that these music programs, if brought back, will have a strong and lasting effect on the community that goes beyond the schools.
However, in a day and age where standardized tests scores seem to rule everything in schools, more often than not arts programs get shortchanged when it comes time to trim budgets. Schools around the country have been forced to cut back or even entirely eliminate arts programs seeing them as peripheral programs not necessarily needed.
This has forced advocates to grasp on to any information and research tying arts to academic achievement. Here is the thing, they shouldn’t have to.
One of the problems in attempting to tie arts education to reading and math scores is the intangible benefits that can be very difficult to measure. For example, it is well known that art and music classes foster creative thinking that could very well be used in problem solving situations.
Two researchers—Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland of Project Zero, an arts-education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education—came under fire a few years back when they came out with a study that made the claim that there were no links between arts education and test scores. However, both researchers are avid arts advocates, and also explain that arts programs shouldn’t have to make that link, and they should have their own intrinsic value.
“We feel we need to change the conversation about the arts in this country,” Winner, said to The New York Times. “These instrumental arguments are going to doom the arts to failure, because any superintendent is going to say, ‘If the only reason I’m having art is to improve math, let’s just have more math.’”
By removing the arts from schools, academic achievement may not be harmed. However, the child’s overall educational experience would be.
A report published last year from the Committee on the Arts and Humanities appointed by President Obama made the following claims on how arts education can affect students in the following areass:
• Student achievement, typically as represented by reading and mathematics performance on high stakes tests, including transfer of skills learning from the arts to learning in other academic areas—for example, the spatial-temporal reasoning skills developed by music instruction.
• Student motivation and engagement, including improved attendance, persistence, focused attention, heightened educational aspirations, and intellectual risk taking.
• Development of habits of mind including problem solving, critical and creative thinking, dealing with ambiguity and complexity, integration of multiple skill sets, and working with others.
• Development of social competencies, including collaboration and team work skills, social tolerance, and self-confidence.
Many of these are immeasurable and hard to quantify, which unfortunately means they are also often ignored in the decision making process.
Hopefully as more people stand up and make the case for these intangible and immeasurable qualities of an arts education, like Winner and Hetland, and those in Wanaque, N.J., the perception on the arts will change.
A child’s education cannot survive on math and reading alone. A broad range of educational opportunities need to be made available to a child to allow them to explore their talents and interests, whether it be through arts programs, athletics programs or other activities outside of subjects on standardized tests.
Not every student wants to be an engineer or scientist and those children should not be denied opportunities in their education.
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