Incorporating arts education and encouraging arts participation benefits students in numerous ways. The arts can include visual arts, music, theater and dance. The arts can cross all disciplines and help students lead richer and fuller lives no matter what career path they choose. They are also likely to make them more successful academically.
Value of Arts Education
Arts education encourages creativity and imagination. It allows students to explore, experiment and express themselves in unique ways, fostering a sense of innovation that can benefit them across all areas of learning.
Engaging with the arts requires critical thinking skills. Analyzing visual art, understanding musical compositions and interpreting dramatic performances all involve complex cognitive processes that sharpen students’ analytical abilities.
Participating in the arts helps students build confidence in their abilities. Performing in a play, displaying an art piece or mastering a musical instrument instills a sense of accomplishment and self-assuredness.
Arts provide a medium for emotional expression. Students can convey their feelings, thoughts and experiences through art forms, helping them process emotions and develop socio-emotional intelligence.
Both Walden University and the Americans for the Arts emphasize that arts education benefits students by improving test scores and graduation rates.
Specifically, students with high arts participation and low socioeconomic status have a 4% dropout rate, which is five times lower than their peers. Students who take four years of arts and music classes score an average of more than 150 points higher on the SAT than students who take only one-half year or less.
Low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college than their peers with no arts education.
Other studies have shown that students who participate in theater are less likely than their peers to make racist comments or engage in discriminatory behavior.
Many arts activities involve collaboration and teamwork. Students learn to work together, respect others’ ideas and contribute to a collective creative endeavor.
Arts education exposes students to different cultures, historical periods and artistic movements. It broadens their cultural awareness and appreciation for diverse perspectives.
Walden University highlights the role of arts in teaching empathy and promoting tolerance. Through artistic expression and exposure to diverse artistic forms, students learn to understand and appreciate different viewpoints, cultures and life experiences. This fosters empathy, tolerance and an inclusive worldview.
Promoting Arts
The Americans for the Arts suggests several ways to help your child get involved in the arts:
• Sing, play music, read a book, dance or draw with your child at home.
• Support their participation in the arts.
• Read with your child.
• Advocate for the arts at school board or PTA meetings.
• Take the lead and ask teachers and principals what you can do to support arts education.
• Take your child to local cultural events.
• Volunteer with local arts organizations.
• Join causes that support the arts and advocate for them in your community.