Why Do We Teach Art in the School System?
Arts have long been the target of budget cuts in schools, but these programs do have value and are an important part of a complete education. The basics continue to be reading, writing and arithmetic, but exposure to the arts, such as drawing, painting, singing, playing instruments and dancing, is beneficial to several areas of development and can offer a better understanding the world.
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History
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Art classes in school date to 1809, when the first blackboard was made from pine lumber covered in egg white and carbon and used in a Pennsylvania school to teach art. In 1870, the Massachusetts legislature passed an act that made art lessons in public schools mandatory and also provided art instruction for the general public through drawing courses for men women and children in communities that had more than 10,000 people.
Visual Perception
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Art education provides the foundation for visual perception. The lessons students learn through recognizing and understand images is also used to decipher words, symbols, math concepts, maps and blueprints.
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Abstract Thinking
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Art education is about a lot more than drawing or painting. Lessons learned through art can be applied to academic subjects, because they help develop abstract thinking skills. The visual arts combine abstract concepts and concrete materials to create, using convergent, divergent, evaluative and visual thinking skills.
Cultural Understanding
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Art education gives students a deeper understanding of history. When students create hieroglyphics and build pyramids, they get a deeper understanding of what it was like to live in ancient Egypt and their interest in the subject might deepen. Combining art with history lessons can give students a better understanding of the culture and the chance to delve deeper into the subject matter.
Encourages Creativity
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Art education can individualize education for each child, because it brings out each person's individual creativity, which can be used to tackle other subjects. It helps students think outside the box and see problems from a different perspective.
Artistic Careers
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Many students who excel in art in school go on to enjoy artistic careers. A career in the arts can be as straightforward as being a visual artist or as intricate as being a computer-aided designer. A good art education can lead to careers in architecture, fashion design and illustration.
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