The idea that education should reach into including the arts into our schools curriculum is favored by many, but some parents and teachers also disagree, along with the board of education. Back in my home town of Fairfield, Connecticut, there have been many budget cuts in the funding for art and music programs. They even threatened to take away the music classes, which so many students are a part of and claim that that is the part of the day that they look forward to the most. Many students are dealing with divorce in their families, and many of them enjoy the outlet of the arts to help with the stress of home life. The school boards don’t think about this when looking at budgeting and creating the curriculum. The school boards are required to follow the Common Core Standards; the standards say nothing about the arts program in it, making the art department the first thing to go when money gets tight. The Common Core standards also has a scoring process which determines budgeting, the schools will cut art classes to make their scores higher to get the most of the budget. These schools also take into consideration the No Child Left Behind Act of 2015. This act says that children must be tested between the grades of 3 to 8 and once in high school to make sure they are keeping up with the rest of the class. This act would help so many children get the correct structure in the sense that they can walk out of high school with the necessary knowledge. But since these tests only test reading, writing, and math, schools tend to cut arts out of the children’s schedule if they are falling behind. This leaves kids who are struggling in core classes not able to participate in the arts, that could help them cope with home life, and therefore create a better environment for them to succeed in other classes. The arts evoke creativity and thinking outside of the box. I don’t want our next generations of children to walk out of high school missing that opportunity, do you? Art not only will help our newer generations become more well rounded individuals, it will also help them cope with something that many children have to deal with nowadays, divorce.
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The idea that education should reach into including the arts into our schools curriculum is favored by many, but some parents and teachers also disagree, along with the board of education. Back in my home town of Fairfield, Connecticut, there have been many budget cuts in the funding for art and music programs. They even threatened to take away choir and the instrumental classes which so many students are a part of and claim that that is the part of the day that they look forward to the most. Many students are dealing with divorce in their families, and many of them enjoy the outlet of the arts to help with the stress of home life. The school boards don’t take this into consideration when looking at budgeting and creating the curriculum. The school boards are required to follow the Common Core Standards; in these standards it says nothing about the arts program in it, making the art department the first thing to go when money gets tight. The Common Core standards also have a scoring process which determines budgeting, the schools will cut art classes to make their scores higher to get the most of the budget. These schools also take into consideration the No Child Left Behind Act of 2015. This act states that children must be tested between the grades of 3 to 8 and once in high school to make sure they are keeping up with the rest of the class. This act would help so many children get the correct structure in the sense that they can walk out of high school with the necessary knowledge. But since these tests only test reading writing and math, schools tend to cut arts out of the children’s schedule if they are falling behind. This leaves kids who are struggling in core classes not able to participate in the arts, that could help them cope with home life, and therefore create a better environment for them to succeed in other classes. The arts evoke creativity and thinking outside of the box. I don’t want our next generations of children to walk out of high school missing that opportunity, do you? Art not only will help our newer generations become more well rounded individuals, it will also help them cope with something that many children have to deal with nowadays, divorce.
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