Do you consider yourself an artist? 57% of Americans from Pewinternet’s 2003 general population survey said they either take part in artistic activities, study or practice the arts. This is more than half the population when applied to the global population (Madden). If so many people partake and enjoy the arts, why are an exponential number of art extracurricular programs being cut from so many school districts across the nation? Not only high school students, but middle and elementary schools are even facing budget cuts. Even though to some it can be seen as a waste of time, the integration of art education into curricula of public K-12 schools is important and should be valued because it provides support for every and all student and offers academic care.
Two decades of people trying to raise the bar for art in education. It has been a race to see who can do it better, and American public schools have been focusing too heavily on the fundamentals …show more content…
However, arts education has lately become a more advocated subject for fans of education. In the early 80’s multiple ideas surfaced to the public about education. Howard Gardner brought the idea of multiple intelligences to the public (Brualdi). This correspondingly lead to media attention in later years given to a study by University of California, Los Angeles neuroscientist students to go public. The students figured out that music training links to cognitive development. (Catterall 5). Nevertheless, new and emerging evidence has shown that art education has powerful effects on students and their achievement. The studies have been shown to have the biggest effect on students who struggle academically. Investigations from the massive National Education Longitudinal study of 1988 data base found that there was significant correlation between active student art participation and academic performance. (Rabkin, Redmond