Albert Einstein once said, "Life without playing music is inconceivable for me, I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music ... I get most joy in life out of music" (Einstein and Music). One of the most influential scientists of our time stated that if he had not been a scientist, he would have been a musician. Why then, are science classes taught in every school, while fine arts classes are becoming more and more neglected? Fine arts educators and supporters have recently been working to combat this increasingly prevalent problem by bringing it to the forefront of the public eye and demanding attention to the importance of a fine arts education. A recent act that is in the process of being passed by the name of The Every Child Achieves Act, works to bring about required fine arts education in public schools. The act hopes to achieve this by redefining fine arts classes as core subjects rather than elective classes. To bring about this change, the public education system as a whole must get government funding for the new curriculum and bring awareness to the benefits and importance of fine arts education.

An education in the fine arts is crucial to a well rounded education and can be beneficial in many ways. Studies have shown that children who are well versed in the fine arts have "reduc[ed] student dropout, rais[ed] student attendance, [make] better team players, foster a love for learning, greater student dignity, enhanced student creativity, and produce a more prepared citizen for the workplace for tomorrow [which] can be found documented in studies held in many varied settings, from school campuses, to corporate America" (KATY). Many people know about these philosophical and emotional affects brought upon by fine arts education. It is often widely known that students immersed in the arts learn how to better express themselves and get an academic break during the school day which often leads to better mental health and overall, happier students. These benefits are not new news to music educators around the nation. In 1924, W. Otto Miessner published an article by the name of Music for Every Child where he stated "Music is indeed worthy to take foremost rank. Music is absolutely fundamental in a scheme of public education that aims to make of every child an intelligent, useful and moral citizen. Intelligent, that he may think clearly and act wisely in private and public matters; useful that he may serve his fellow men; moral, that he may bestow and derive the greatest good and happiness through living. Music contributes directly to this threefold training of the child because it, as much as, if not more than any other study, develops hand, head, and soul." (Miessner) Mankind has known for as long as it can remember, the joys that are associated with music. It was always been a source of entertainment and expression which has helped many diverse groups of people get through hardships and struggles. The arts were introduced into schools and although they have rested on the backburner for all of this time, their importance has not been doubted or overlooked until recently as society has decided that although the arts may be fun, they serve no purpose in a place of learning. These curriculums, however, also offer many academic benefits. These benefits include things such as higher standardized test scores, heightened abilities to work in groups, leadership skills, and improved problem solving skills. According to a study done by the SAT College Board, on the 2012 SAT, students who participated in music scored an average of 31 points above average in reading, 23 points above average in math, and 31 points above average in writing. (College Board SAT Report) This is thought to be because "musical rhythm is based upon mathematical relations, and it is certainly reasonable to assume that an understanding of music requires some understanding of ratios (3/4 time v. 4/4 time) and repeating patterns. In addition, if music experiences enhances spatial-temporal reasoning, then music may also enhance understanding of those aspects of math that involve spatial-temporal reasoning, such as geometry and proportional reasoning." (Vaughn) It has become very clear that the arts are important not only for the benefits they provide in the most general sense, but also for the academic and life skills that they develop. In his TedTalk about the importance of music education, Australian Conductor, Richard Gill, brushes on the importance of starting kids off early in fine arts programs so that they have more time to develop these skills so that they are better able to apply them to their daily lives. This media source further emphasizes the importance of fine arts programs in every public school, so that no child is deprived of these life skills. 

In 2001, an act was passed by the name of the No Child Left Behind Act. Among other things, a large portion of this act was dedicated to getting math, science, and literature classes considered 'core subjects' so that the government could regulate their use in the curriculums of low socio-economic, public schools. Although this was intended to make great strides for public school academics, it resulted in the cutting of arts programs due to government funding being put towards these three core subjects only. Schools no longer could budget their money the way they so desired and arts programs and extra curriculars started to disappear due to a lack of funding. Many blame the No Child Left Behind Act for the decline of arts programs because even though the act itself was designed to improve the public education system, it ultimately ended up hurting it. This is clearly illustrated in a cartoon by the artist Horsey, that depicts a monochromatic dramatization of a typical classroom setting after the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. There are rows of children sitting at desks with brain washing devices and blinders attached to their heads. These devices are hooked up to three tubes which read, 'Reading, Writing, and Math'. One child has run away from the desks and over towards the window. Outside of the window is a colorful and beautiful scene with plants and animals and words such as 'The Arts, and PE'. The classroom's teacher has come over to the child to take her back to her desk and is saying 'Come away from the window! You don't want to be a child left behind, do you?' The child responds with 'Sounds good to me!'(Horsey) This media source strongly depicts the problems that were left behind by the No Child Left Behind Act and how there was literally no place for arts programs inside of these school districts. Because the No Child Left Behind Act focused primarily on low-socioeconomic, or, 'in-need' schools, there was a massive rise of the importance of standardized tests in school. This new way of motoring a schools so called success was a process of each grades test scores to that of the year prior. For example, the 3rd grade class of 2016 must make better grades than the 3rd grade class of 2015 in order to show improvement and for their school to continue to get government funding. This clearly puts too much stress on standardized testing and falsely assigns importance to aspects of public education that provide no real life benefits to the children it is practiced on, but even years later, this practice is still widely in use today but is hoped to be greatly reduced by the Every Child Achieves Act which came into play recently. 

This past summer, in July of 2015, a new act by the name of the Every Child Achieves Act was passed by an overwhelming majority in the US Senate. (neaToday) This act has been 13 years in the making and strives to make amendments to the No Child Left Behind Act and the infamous legacy it left behind. The Every Child Achieves Act covers areas of fine arts education such as music, dance, theater, and visual arts. It, in the most general sense, aims to make amendments to the No Child Left Behind Act by considering fine arts classes 'core subjects'. Once they are classified as core subjects, they too will have to receive government funding and schools will be able to redistribute their budgets to allow funds to go to the arts programs. The most challenging aspect of this new act, is that it has currently only passed through one of the three branches of government. Even though it passed through the Senate with flying colors, it still has to pass through both the House of Representatives and Congress before the act can start to be put to action. Although the overwhelming majority of people agrees that this act will take great steps towards improving the public education system, many are still afraid about funding and the snowball affect that could possibly occur if every single school goes to request more money from the government. As this is an ongoing issue, fine arts educators and supporters alike are continually and tirelessly looking for solutions to the funding difficulties, but we aim to solve one problem at a time and our first order of business is to get the importance of a fine arts education back into the public eye. If the general public is not made aware of the benefits of the fine arts program that are seriously lacking in public school districts, they will not make the efforts that are needed to change these laws and policies. Without public support and understanding, getting the Every Child Achieves Act through The House of Representatives and Congress will become increasingly difficult. When people are made aware of the importance and the benefits of a fine arts education, almost undoubtedly, support will follow. But publicity is essential to the process as without publicity, there are no supporters. Without supporters, the act will not be passed. We will take each difficulty in stride and deal with each hardship as it comes because if we take the process one step at a time, we will be able to bring fine arts education to every child nation wide who can grown and prosper in their well-rounded school district. 

If fine arts education is so important and we've known it for years, why has it taken so long for this act to get passed? The main problem with reintroducing fine arts programs back into public school curriculums is the budgeting. Having music and art classes are great and all, but where will the money come from? The majority of government funding goes to the three core classes assigned by the No Child Left Behind Act; reading, writing, and math. So would more government money lead to better and more diverse programs? Many think so, but according to Kevin Payne and Bruce Biddle, that may not be the case. Their article titled Poor School Funding, Child Poverty, and Mathematics Achievement; states that even though "school principles, teachers, and parents [believe] that more money can buy the things that improve education  ...  the research is far more negative  ...  many studies find little relationship between student test scores and either school expenditures or the smaller class sizes and other things that money buys".(Payne) This statement knocks out two of people's main arguments against the Every Child Achieves Act. That standardized tests are closely related to the success of any given school and should dictate their funding, and the success of individual program is directly correlated with the size of it's budget. By being disproved by numerous studies that say that just is not so, schools should not have to give a second thought to redistributing their budgets to include fine arts programs in their curriculums. But the initial question still stands. Where does the money come from? According to Nicholas Pittner, initially schools were funded by what was called the 'DeRolph litigation'. What this meant was that school budgets were set by a budgetary residual which meant that whatever funds were left over after other government priorities had been met were put towards the education system. Now, a system known as the 'Evidence-based model' "attempts to identify the components required at the school level to deliver a higher quality education. Funding amounts are identified for each component, the total cost of the component is then determined, and the plan attempts to provide funding accordingly." (Pittner) By taking advantage of the Evidence-based model, schools would be better able (and more encouraged) to redistribute their funding, since every individual program and organization would get its own consideration as to how much money it needed and no one program would be left to draw the short stick, per se, and be forced to make do with whatever small amount of funding was left over at the end of it all. 

Music educators and advocators all around the globe and especially the United States are constantly working to find new and better ways to find funding for these programs, but as of where we stand right now, our main goal is to get government funding through the Every Child Achieves Act. Once fine arts programs are considered core subjects, the public education system will be forced to budget around them in order to include them in the budget plan just as they would any other core subject such as reading, writing, or math. After that, we can only imagine how the fine arts programs will grow and flourish, improving the lives of those involved as it allows people to once again learn to express themselves in a healthy and productive way. To learn how to work with others, how to lead, how to deal with rejection, and most importantly, how to succeed in life. 

In conclusion, al though it has become an increasingly prevalent issue that fine arts programs are being reduced and cut entirely from public school, fine arts educators and supporters around the nation have been working to combat this. The Every Child Achieves Act works to bring about required fine arts education in public schools by redefining fine arts classes as core subjects rather than just as elective classes. To bring about this change, the public education system as a whole must get government funding for the curriculum and bring awareness to the benefits of fine arts education.
