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Why Teach Art?
Recent studies are adding to existing evidence that arts education enriches
and enhances the learning capacity of students in a wide variety of
ways, many not necessarily explicitly or directly related to skills
or expression in the visual or performing arts.
A recent compilation of studies conducted by the Arts
Education Partnership provides further evidence that the lives and
learning capacities of students are greatly enhanced by early and continuing
studies in the arts. Cognitive skills and capacities which are critical
to the mastery of other subject matter and to academic and social success
are some of the many benefits of continuing exposure to and participation
in arts-based activities. Other studies show that students who have
regularly taken part in arts activities throughout elementary and secondary
school achieve higher scores on the SAT tests than those who do not.
Increased academic success is enhanced in a variety of ways. For example,
students exposed to dramatic reenactments as well as certain forms
of
music and dance are given a boost in their early ability to "break
the phonetic code" which is so essential to unlocking written
language for early learners.
Additionally, students derive the benefits of increased social skills,
including empathy, collaboration, and tolerance for others.
These studies are helping to show more conclusively that the arts are
a vital part of the learning environment, and that they contribute
to a much richer and more tolerant social environment. All of these
benefits
enhance the education of the "whole individual," an aware
child who is naturally curious, self-confident, and comfortable with
expressing him/herself in a wide variety of ways, and has a natural
love of learning.
Another way of looking at this is to recognize that the arts are what
make us human and distinguish us from the rest of the "animal
kingdom."
Man, so far as we know, is the only animal capable of the sort
of "self-reflection" that gives us the rich heritage
of artistic expression that stretches from the rock and cave paintings
at Uluru and Lascaux
to Christo's "Gates" in Central Park.
For another
compelling look at how vitally important creativity can be and how
critical it is to encourage it in our schools, have a look at the
talk given by Sir Ken Robinson at the annual TED conference in
Monterey, CA, in 2006.
A statistic
to reflect on: By the time a young person graduates from high school,
he or she will have spent almost
20,000 hours watching television - as compared to 12,500 hours in the
classroom…as compared to, perhaps, 330 hours of art instruction
(if fortunate).
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