The study of the arts belongs in every K-12 classroom. Participation in the arts is correlated with increases in cognitive capacity, reading, mathematics, critical thinking, and verbal skill (Lynch, n.d.). Artwork learning can additionally enhance focus, motivation, trust, and teamwork. Arts programming in schools helps close a gap that's left many a youngster behind and acts as an equalizer of sorts. Children of wealthy parents are exposed to the arts whereas the children from low-income families do not have the same exposure. The research behind this paper will show that art belongs in the K-12 curricula in schools since education is fundamental to a child’s development.
Almost everyone loves music, whether by playing an instrument, singing, or listening to it. Schools really make a mistake when they cut theirs arts budget dues to financial restraints. The study of art is equally as valuable.
Take music for instance; instrumental training, musical training, creates long lasting changes in brain structure and motor skills. The earlier a child begins instrumental training, the more powerful the link involving the left and right hemispheres of the mind (Boyd, 2014). These transforms last into adulthood and therefore are proven to affect the ability convey and to listen as an adult. Music education prepares students to understand academic subjects in school.
Music education readies students by helping acquire their basic mental abilities and for learning. Music education affects learning. Student academic accomplishment is facilitated by music education. Not only do students, who study music acquire musical skills, they receive benefits that extend into their success with other school subjects.
Here are the many benefits that an art education provides.
Improves Academic Performance
Studies demonstrate that there's a correlation between other and art accomplishment. A report by Americans for the Arts says that children, who participate frequently in the arts (three hours a day for three days each week through one complete year), are four times more prone to be recognized for their academic accomplishment. Additionally, these same children are more likely to take part in a mathematics and science fair or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than kids who don't participate (Lynch, n.d.).
Improvement of Motor Skills
Many of the movements associated with making art, like scribbling using a crayon or holding a paintbrush, are important to the development of fine motor skills in young kids. Many preschool programs stress using scissors as it acquires for writing the dexterity kids will want. Around age three should start working with safety scissors and drawing a circle. Around age four, kids might have the ability to draw on a square and start cutting on straight lines.
Assists with Language Development
For really young kids, making artwork – or simply talking about it – provides chances to learn words for activities, shapes, and colors. When children are as young as a year old, parents can do simple tasks like crumpling up paper and calling it a ball. By elementary school, children can start using descriptive words to speak about their feelings when they see various types of art or to talk about their particular creations.
Sharpens Visual Learning Skills
Sculpting with clay, drawing, and stringing beads on a cord all acquire visual-spatial abilities, which tend to be more significant than ever before. In our gadget happy society, even toddlers are using tablets or smartphones. That is, children are starting at an early age to process visual information. This information includes cues that people get from images or three-dimensional items from TV, publications and digital media. Understanding of the visual arts, like graphical symbolism, is particularly significant in aiding children browse a world full of advertising symbols and become intelligent consumers.
Improves Creative Thinking
When children study art in their schools, they are acquiring creative skills that will help them as adults (Smith, 2009). Today’s society calls for people, who are creative and proactive not just reactionary people, who follow directions. Since art creates, it bolsters the method by which children acquire the necessary skills to be inventive and create something out of nothing.
Introduces Children to a Diverse Range of Ethnic Groups
The pictures of distinct ethnic groups in the media might also bring with it unintended and unflattering messaging for the group. In our diverse society, intolerance against ethnic groups is not tolerated. Educating children in the arts will allow them to see a slice of their world through the artist’s eyes. Sometimes, this perspective may be from a different ethnic perspective, which then shows the children viewing this art a different cultural perspective.
As demonstrated in this paper, many research studies back up the fact that art education is beneficial for students in the K-12 curriculum. Besides improving motor skills, it assists students with sharpening their visual learning skills. It is important that schools look to art as not a frivolous activity that fills in the time between reading, writing, and arithmetic. It is no coincidence that art education is usually the first thing to go when a school is facing financial difficulty. This alone implies that art education is extraneous when it is not. Schools need to change their viewpoint on art education. They should view art education as required study that will produce intellectually well-rounded students, who then become proactive and creative adults.
References
Boyd, S. (2014, April 28). Music, Art and Language Programs in Schools Have Long-Lasting Benefits - US News. Retrieved July 11, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/04/28/music-art-and-language-programs-in-schools-have-long-lasting-benefits
Lynch, G. H. (n.d.). The Importance of Art in Child Development. Music & Arts. Education. Retrieved July 11, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-importance-of-art-in-child-development
Smith, F. (2009, January 28). Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It. Retrieved July 11, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development
