Art is important in child’s upbringing; helps academic perfomance, experts say

Art is important in child’s upbringing; helps academic perfomance, experts say

By Michael Picarella

Acorn Staff Writer

When contemplating education, art is seldom considered as a major subject. But art can be a very important factor in how well a child performs academically.

More and more school districts have been expanding their art programs and well they should, according to California Department of Education (CDE) officials. Studies have shown that when art is included in curriculum, there is a greater chance for academic success.

"We stand at the dawn of a bright and vibrant future for the students of California and the arts will continue to be critical to that future," said CDE visual and performing arts consultant Don Doyle. "The reasons for inclusion of the arts into the instructional program are multiple.

"The arts are the best way of understanding cultural literacy," Doyle said. "And we cannot ignore the fact that young people who do have access to an arts’ education outperform their non-arts-educated peers on a measure of academics’ ability, and that schools that have arts’ programs have less truancy and more student involvement.

"The arts have the ability to save our children and provide for them a vision of who and what they can be," he cotninued. "All of what artists do helps them find their own voice, their own style, their self worth and their avenue for experiencing the joy of the human spirit."

Students who are denied an opportunity to study art are less ready for the future, Doyle said.

"They’re simply not prepared for this visual and auditory world we live in without the essential skills they learn through the study and practice of the arts," Doyle said.

Students aren’t just learning a craft or technique, he said. They are learning to use problem-solving tools. They’re prepared to think "outside the box" and look at the world more analytically, a skill most important on the SAT test.

"Our students must leave our schools as young people who are able to be creative, flexible, focused, disciplined and imaginative," Doyle said. "This is how our country has made progress, through people who have been willing to take risks, think divergently, imaginatively and critically, who have experienced the discipline of practicing their craft."

The arts are also very helpful in the workplace, Doyle said. Those with an art background have a better chance of finding more creative and innovative solutions to problems than those who haven’t studied art. People with an art background also are able to focus on specifics, can revise, invent and resolve or solve.

But Doyle doesn’t refer to art as only drawing or painting. Art is also dancing, music, acting and filmmaking.

The CDE has recognized the importance of art and has sponsored several programs in support of the arts. Since a 1997 review by the Arts Work Task Force commissioned by CDE Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, Doyle said improvement is already apparent.

Some of the accomplishments are:

•The Arts Work grant program funds TeachingArts.org, the state-of-the-art statewide online arts resource center

•A statewide committee has been working to provide information on arts’ assessment

• The California Alliance for arts’ education that represents all the stakeholders in arts’ education has increased its activities and influence

• Many local arts’ agencies are providing excellent arts’ education services to schools in the form of performances at schools, field trips to arts’ events and performances, and artists working in the schools

•CDE is increasing its visual and performing arts staff this year

"Our institutions of higher education need to create programs that support the development of trained dance, music, theater and visual arts’ teachers," Doyle said. Art shouldn’t be halted once students leave grade school, he said. Students should always work on their craft and sharpen their critical thinking skills by using art.

"And let us remind ourselves that the arts exalt the human spirit and enhance our quality of life," Doyle said. "The arts provide a lifetime of unlimited enjoyment."