Art Advocacy

Why Teach Art?  Better question why in the world would you not teach art?  Teaching Art takes more than a textbook and teacher explaining it.  I realize that is a generalization and simplification of the three R’s.  Each subject taught has its strengths and weaknesses, but Art takes money to fuel it and with Education getting cut in state and national budgests. art programs are taking a beating.  Art is every bit as important as Math or English.  Not every student is going to have natural talent or become world famous but then again not every student will become a mathematician or scientist.  Art education aids in every other aspect of learning.  The NAEP found that students receiving classroom arts instruction outperformed other students and that that instruction increased all of their artistic abilities, including the ability to create works of quality that communicated complex ideas and feelings - a fundamental communication skill in contemporary society.  Students who have had arts education have higher SAT scores than those without.  http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/sat.html  "Brain research is showing that the stimuli provided by the arts - pictures, song, movement, play acting -are essential for the young child to develop to the fullest potential. These activities are the "languages" of the child, the multiple ways in which he or she understands and interprets the world. Active use of these forms also paves the way for the child to use verbal language, to read and to write.”   http://www.brenhamchildrenschorus.org/1999benefits.htm.  And the list goes on.  There are so many people who learn in a visual manor and Cheryl Hamilton said it best:

            I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand

Our educational system  has been built on deep rooted traditions that are not easy to challenge let alone change, but the need for improvement has been staring us in the face for a long time.   Asia and Europe score higher in Mathmatics, Science, and Reading.  If we changed our approach to the educational system and gave Art as high an importance as M. S. and R. maybe the youth of our nation would outshine Europe or Asia. 

  -  Support funding of Access Missouri in the 2013 budget proposal. Keep informed about the efforts to protect need-based financial aid in Missouri through the Keep Me In College Coalition, send Governor Nixon a message.