Making Art Is More than Making a Mess
May 10, 2011, By Jack Heffron 0 comments
A cold, rainy Saturday afternoon. The kids are restless and bored, and you’re feeling pretty much the same way. Until somebody pulls out paints and brushes, markers and construction paper, scissors and glue. A table is cleared. Everybody gathers to spout ideas about what to make. Messing around with an art project (and it definitely can get messy) changes the entire tone of the day.
But it goes way beyond fun for your kids. It can change their lives. Art ignites their creativity, allows them to express themselves and explore possibilities, encourages them to solve challenges.
Learning to Learn
In his foreword to a landmark study titled Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, former Secretary of Education Richard Riley writes: “Through engagement with the arts, young people can better begin lifelong journeys of developing their capabilities and contributing to the world around them. The arts teach young people how to learn by giving them the first step: the desire to learn.”
And yet, as schools slash their budgets while government agencies grapple with rising debt, art departments usually are the first to feel the slice of the fiscal knife. In March of this year, Congress eliminated funding ($40 million) for the Art in Education program as part of its attempt to control spending.
Why pick on art classes?
“We’re living in a standards-driven culture in schools right now,” says Professor Parker Fawson, chair of the curriculum and instruction department at the University of Kentucky. “The core standards in math and language arts seem to be driving much of the decision-making. There’s also a push for more accountability, of achieving the standards that are expected. In the absence of standards in art, you can see how that would begin to fade away.”
Kids suffer more than the loss of a favorite class. As the Champions of Change study makes clear, students who are active in the arts—either during the school day or in after-school programs—perform better in their overall academics than students with low art activity. Art activity also greatly reduced the dropout rates and fostered positive attitudes and behaviors. Far from being an ancillary activity, art classes influence the way kids approach all of their schoolwork.
“One of the areas where American education has been particularly strong in is developing creativity,” says Dr. Fawson. “This is one of the niches where art education can really help—developing imagination and creativity, allowing them to develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. It also helps students learn to work cooperatively with other students. In the absence of art education, we will have students who are good in math and reading and science but who maybe lack creativity and imagination.”
