Americans for the Arts
Op-Ed Piece
Andrea
JR 328
15 December 2005


Who Wants Their Child to be “Average?”
Sometimes Meaning the Best is not the Same as Doing the Best


In 2001, a survey was taken of high school students who completed the SAT assessment test. The results were startling. Those who reported being involved in music appreciation classes scored an average of 63 points higher on the verbal sections of their SATs and 44 points higher on their math sections. This statistic was true independent of age, gender or race. With numbers like these, it may seem obvious that arts education in the schools is a must.

Some government officials are attempting to integrate the arts into the public school system. In 2002 President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, an act that details the nine “core subjects” our nation’s children should be learning in public schools. Art is considered one of these core subjects. However, of these core subjects, schools are only required by law to test in the subjects of reading and math. The better a school does, the more funding it receives. This has caused both emphasis and funding to shift toward the two aforementioned subjects and away from other subjects, such as art. Perhaps this act was created with good intentions, but the effects have been devastating to the arts world. According to Americans for the Arts, nationwide funding for arts programs was cut from $355 million to $274 million in the 2004 fiscal year.

So why this discord? National officials such as President Bush praise arts education, but the very programs meant to aid them end up robbing them of precious funds. One main problem is that many legislators are not even aware that art is one of the core subjects listed in the No Child Left Behind Act. The list of subjects is not given until the glossary of the bill and even then it does not define what it means by “the arts.” This leaves the issue open for a lot of interpretation. In the face of choosing either funding a government standardized tested subject such as math or subjects like dance and theater, the choice is clear for many officials.

Another problem comes right from your very own school council. Just because the meetings are available for the public to attend does not mean that the details and discussions of budgets and programs will be made public. And many parents do not attend the meetings. Their lack of presence implies to the school board a lack of interest in the subjects at hand. A lack of interest in a subject is all but an open invitation to slice its budget especially if funds are tight. The best way to let your school officials know that the arts matter to you and your family is to attend school board meetings and voice your opinions.

After all, a recent poll by Americans for the Arts showed that 89 percent of all households “believe that arts education is important enough to be taught in schools.” For public schools not to fund a subject about which American citizens feel so strongly is ludicrous at best.

Arts education keeps inner city kids off the streets and increases test scores, academic excellence, cognitive reasoning ability and social skills. Americans for the Arts seeks to promote all three of these things by achieving three main goals: to raise money for the arts, to provide an adequate arts education for every child and to foster community development through the arts.
Math and reading are important life skills. But they are not the only life skills. Government officials support arts education too. However they cannot know whether or not they have public support unless we give it to them. It is important to advocate education for the arts in public schools in both our words and our actions.