Analysis Of Valerie Strauss Top 10 Skills Children Learn From The Arts

Composing music, playing an instrument, learning dance, reading notes, painting, preforming, etc. is not simple when learning its learning a whole different language with different concepts, and vocabulary. Art helps make students with problem solving skills. It teaches students that there is more than one solution to a single problem. It encourages students to open ended thinking which is thinking with no limitations. Regardless of you are learning how to sing, dance, how to paint, or to play an instrument students learn how to dedicate their time to become better which results in discipline and patience. Students use that progress of growing with other aspects of education and everyday life. Discipline, patience, language skills, critical intellectual skills, creative skills are just a few of the many skills that art teaches

One reason they should not be cut from schools is, fine arts have tremendous benefits. The arts also help with early childhood development. Some say they are the building blocks of child development. Arts education helps with motor skills, language development, decision making, visual learning, inventiveness, cultural awareness and diversity, and even improved academic performance. High arts education in a school engages, learning, results in higher test scores, and lowers drop out and truancy rates.

While reading both opinions on how art, whether it be music or paintings, does or does not improve cognitive ability, I’ve come to the conclusion that it does. The articles that were in favor of the arts had great points. They were able to state their point of view, while backing it up with research and scientific facts. The articles against the arts stated that they do not improve learning ability, but rather auditory and visual skills. Despite auditory and visual skills not directly improving a child’s learning ability, they are still a substantial part in child development. Even so, the author of the passage still acknowledged creative imagination’s potential to help a child perform better in learning assessments and IQ tests. Involving in art in the school system, whether that’s learning about it or having the students do it themselves, really can improve school performance in several ways, including heightening brain activity, making them more attentive and enhancing their wellbeing.

Famous Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Schools all around the United States are closing their arts programs including music, art, and theatre, because of budget cuts. More than 25% of public high schools have closed done away with their arts programs. Blogger Katrina Soliman stated in her blog about the lack of creative opportunities in school, “Children have a knack for originality” and “Schools advise students to be creative but do not give time to do so.” The arts, however, are very important to children while they learn to grow and there have been hundreds of studies showing why they’re important. They improve test scores, give students creative ideas after high school and there are also other nonacademic uses.

Fulfilling their highest potential is what teachers and students strive to do in their path to success. Those who took no lessons at all, did not so fantastic as those who did. In addition, the fact that they are younger children they become more susceptible to outside influences. Imagine starting a child out on an instrument around the age of 5, and one starting out playing soccer. Physically one is going to be more advance. Mentally though, that child who is learning complex rhythms, counting skills, reading skills, and comprehension skills. Kids, who are taking fine arts classes, get a head start on a life full of more potential than those who do not

Despite taking the place of a core class, fine arts can bolster and strengthen a student’s abilities in said core classes. Art is accessible to everyone and therefore can create a new sense of unity and connection among peers in and out of school. Students often don’t have many ways to express themselves, but by taking classes in the fine arts, students would have an expressive medium to do so inside of school. Skills learnt in fine arts classes can be used for a student’s entire life, regardless of age or condition, and thanks to the many other advantages of these courses, should be required for students to

Arts education provides students with valuable opportunities to experience and build knowledge and skills in self-expression, imagination, creative and collaborative problem solving, communication, the creation of shared meanings and respect for others (ooo). Dewey (1934) states that “Arts ….” The arts allows language and thought to be expressed through a variety of representation not in the

Having arts in school is a way a student express himself or herself in ways they are unable to in any other classroom. It is important for each student to have their own identity and have ways of letting their talents and personalities shine. For some, it may be sports or scholars bowl, for others it is art, music, or theater. “I have several students who don’t care to be on the football field or on the basketball court. These students find their nitch in the practice room, on the stage, or in front of an easel surrounded by paints and brushes. As sports are a release for athletes, music and art are ways to express feelings and emotions. Fine arts has helped many of my students find their identity” (Wildeman). There are many benefits to music education include being disciplined, learning a skill, being part of the music world, managing performance, and being part of something you can be proud

Many business leaders see participation in the fine arts as a plus in possible employees. Fine arts basic workplace skills such as self-discipline, teamwork, and even leadership skills. The 1996 magazine Business Week cites John Brademas, “Arts education is education that focuses on the ‘doing.’” This means that arts students actually apply the skills that they learn. When working on a piece of music or a play of some sort, fine

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading writing, and arithmetic…music dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment” (William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education).

When children participate in programs that provided fine arts, the arts help improve their cognition and social development. According to studies done by the article, Section III: The Arts Cognition, and Social Development, "An interest in a performing art leads to a high state of motivation that produces the sustained attention necessary to improve performance and the training of attention that leads to improvement in other domains of cognition." Because of the motivation that the fine arts gave to children, they were able to improve the attention needed for cognitive skills such as memory, logic and reasoning, and auditory. Furthermore, fine arts not only improve their cognition skills but also their social skills. In the reading, Section III: The Arts Cognition, and Social Development, "Students with lower socio-economic status who had sustained involvement in theatre arts were shown over time to have greater self-confidence, motivation, and empathy than did their non-arts peers, according to a ten-year national study of over 25,000 high school students." As a result, they are able to get out of their comfort zone and explore their surroundings. In addition, with the increases of motivation obtained by fine arts, they are able to achieve what they want with less fear of failure than

With the utilization of visual and performing arts, students can begin to enhance their personal growth. By producing original works, enjoying the time spent on the piece of art, and having a sense of pride in one’s accomplishments, an art student will experience an increase in self-esteem and confidence (Importance). A child who receives praise for their art work from parents and teachers will most likely be more positive in their artistic abilities. For example, when a child brings a painting home to his parents and his parents react with smiles, cheers and display the picture on the refrigerator, the student will in turn feel very proud of his accomplishments. This newly found self-esteem and confidence often expands into other subjects at school to the overall benefit of the individual. Participating in art is also a way for students to

Schools that offer fine arts classes have lower dropout rates and raised attendance. The fine arts positively impact students of lower socioeconomic status more those of a higher  status. The fine arts have no barriers for race, religion, and culture when it comes to being involved in the arts. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be involved (Katy Independent School District). Without the arts these students have no outlet for creative capabilities and no way to express their talents. Students who need this way of expressing themselves are overlooked and they are the ones who need it the most (Dickson). When viewing the participation of arts in the eyes of a ten-year old, “It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff they have to think about” (Arts and Smarts: Test Scores and Cognitive Development).

“People are forgetting that math is taught when a child is playing an instrument. English is taught when a child is reading or writing a script. Critical thinking is taught when a child is analyzing art” (Sabrina Holcomb). There is a significant correlation between participating in the arts, and success in school. Multiple studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between playing an instrument, and an increase in scores in mathematical subject. In these studies, it was also noted that students who were more creative were better problem solvers than students who were not as creative. All of these characteristics are sought after in the work force, meaning that the arts not only help during the school years, but in work and business as well (Ron Whitehorne). Also, it is important to note that “Low-income students who had arts-rich experiences in high schools were more than three times as likely to earn a B.A. as low-income students without those experiences. And the new study from the National Endowment reports that low-income high school students who earned little or no arts credits were five times more likely not to graduate from high school than low-income students who earned many arts credits” (Tyleah Hawkins). The arts have always been used as a form of expression and inspiration for people across the world, the arts have also been shown to improve high-risk student's outlook on their schooling. Research has shown that the arts help improve standardized test scores like the ACT or SAT (Tyleah Hawkins).People who support the arts believe that quality art education can help engage at-risk students in ways that other subjects such as math, science, or reading cannot. This is why it is believed that the arts are a key tool in the prevention of high-school dropout. There are many studies that point to a lower dropout rate for students who participate in

Art education has been proven to help with “cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skills” as well as “motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork” (Smith). Having the ability and patience to sit down and paint a masterpiece or work through a song on the piano requires high focus and dedication. Students willing to do this will in turn have stronger skills to focus and be dedicated in other subjects. The mixture of all these abilities gained from participation in art programs lead to higher test scores and overall better performance in school. Still, these are only a few of the assets provided by art education.