Does the name Gillian Lynne sound familiar? Gillian Lynne is a choreographer and has choreographed a number of musicals on Broadway, such as “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”. When Lynne was a child, she was thought to have a learning disorder, due to her lack of concentration. Her mother took her to a specialist and he discovered that she struggles with being stuck in a desk all day. The specialist recommended she attend a dance school that would educate her in the arts and other subjects, creating a positive atmosphere for her. She thrived in this environment and remains a successful artist today (Robinson). Ultimately, Gillian Lynne needed to be supported in an artistic outlet to allow her to have the opportunity to perfect her natural talents. Due to budget cuts, outlets such as the ones that helped Lynne are slowly dwindling in American public schools. There is a debate whether the arts have a positive impact on students or if they are a waste of time and money. As this issue becomes more prevalent due to budget cuts, students are becoming more deprived without arts programming. 

There have been many rising economic issues causing public schools to make large budget cuts. When public schools decide to cut down on spending, fine arts programs are typically the first to be cut down on or even cut completely (Hawkins). Arts programs are typically cut, because they are believed to have the least impact on student’s learning and create the least amount of controversy among the community. The school board receives less push back when fine arts are cut instead of sports programs, due to the support sports receive from the community (Dickson). Schools that are cutting fine arts programs are starting small, with elementary art classes, which is saving money. This puts young children at the risk of not gaining an interest in the arts. Without early exposure to the arts, children can lose interest, and in doing so, they lose a creative outlet that they might have thoroughly enjoyed. 

Fine arts are more than just a creative outlet. Courtney Weida, an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Art Education at Adelphi University, states: “Humans are makers; craft has always been at the center of our making”, it is a part of who we are (Weida 1). Children should not be deprived from the arts. Art teaches “sensory materiality, collective and individual consciousness, and a balance of histories and traditions with the individual maker’s constructed meanings” (Weida 5). Art classes provide lessons that students do not get in their core curriculum. 

Children in the twenty first century are attached to the internet and social media. They do not use their hands as much. However, art helps provide children with an alternative to being glued to a screen. Children learn about designs from art, with the variety of textures, color, and forms, teaching them background for what will be helpful for design in the future. Arts provides helpful skills that are not discussed in other classes that children are required to take.

Art changes the way a person thinks. It provides emphasis on the creative side of thought and visualization. Art causes one to constantly think about creating (Hausman). Fine arts curriculum should be more focused on life experiences and exploring one’s personal perspectives and how they relate to society. When a person thinks like an artist, their thoughts are “insightful and multivalent” (ibid). 

Each fine art subject benefits students in different ways. Theater classes help with “understanding social relationships, complex issues and emotions, [they] improve concentrated thought and story comprehension” (Henry). Music helps improve math proficiency and success, reading and the development of their cognitive skills, and improves their skills for students learning a second language. Dance improves “creative thinking, originality, elaboration and flexibility; [it] improves expressive skills, social tolerance, self-confidence and persistence” (Henry). Visual arts improve the way students write and improve their reading skills, interpreting text and analyzing different images and graphs. A combination of different art forms “help with reading, verbal and math skills; [they] improve the ability to collaborate and higher-order thinking skills” (ibid). Each arts class benefits in a different way and helps students succeed in their academic courses. Students are impacted in a positive way by their arts classes, more than society recognizes.

As a child, I was immersed in the arts. When I was seven, I saw the Broadway show Wicked and told my parents, “I want to do that”, so I started auditioning and have not stopped since. I was involved in all the productions at my school and was in choir, learning and growing in my confidence as a person. Also, when I was seven I had severe issues with my memory, I could not memorize vocabulary and my reading comprehension was quite low. My parents took me to a “Brain Trainer” for therapy, they were confused because I did not have any issues understand and memorizing scripts. They used my understanding of music and plays to help me memorize topics for other courses. Without my arts classes I would not have understood theater and music and would not have could find a new way to memorize, therefore I would not have succeeded in my other courses. The arts did not only positively impact my memorization skills, but I grew in my confidence and public speaking, due to performances and the push to go outside of my comfort zone.  

With public schools having to go through budget cuts, art education programs are in a crisis of instability (Hausman). Around 10% of teachers cut during these budget cuts were fine arts teachers in 2016. Schools are having to rely on donations and private funds to keep their arts programs thriving (Hambek). Schools systems in North Dakota are making fine arts classes a part of their core curriculum along with Math, Science, and English, which is changing their curriculum. This causes fine arts classes to be less vulnerable to cuts. There are few programs that are not struggling; this is mainly due to a policy of inclusion certain programs have taken upon themselves. This is seen in a school in North Dakota, where the theater program is choosing their performances based on how many students they can include. Their teacher, Chad Gifford, states if you are not passionate about the arts then it does not matter if you are receiving support from the administration (Hambek). 

In a 2005 survey, Arizona citizens claimed that they believe their state is one of the worst in the nation in regards to education and children’s welfare (Amrein-Beardley). Arizona has one of the highest dropout rates in the nation. Around 50% of the public schools in Arizona come from a lower income family or a minority background or both (Amrein-Beardley). The students in the Arizona school system constantly rank in the bottom percentile in all grade level and subject areas. The Arizona school boards believe that arts programs are necessary for students’ futures, including them in their high school graduation requirements and for their public universities admissions. Even though the arts are supported in Arizona, they still have not been able to completely implement this policy due to lack of funding. Especially with the student-teacher ratio being around 625: 1 (Amrein-Beardley). 

The No Child Left Behind Act was started to close the gap between minority students and their peers. The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act was to provide all students with the same opportunity to receive a high-quality education, which includes fine arts courses. The act has impacted the school systems in the way they teach students, who they hire to teach, and how to improve their school’s overall quality of education. This issue, with the No Child Left Behind Act, was studied by a survey in 2010 with a random selection of 3,050 of the Michigan Art Education Association members of Secondary, Middle, Elementary, Administration and Supervision staff (Sabol). No Child Left Behind did not have much influence on the teachers in the arts, 91% stated they were already qualified before entering the field and before No Child Left Behind came into effect. 

The basis of No Child Left Behind is that school systems were going to work to make better teachers, but 61% believed that No Child Left Behind has not contributed to their teaching styles (Sabol). No Child Left Behind also has not impacted the size of their classes, 62% said their enrollments in their arts classes have stayed the same and No Child Left Behind has not increased or decreased their enrollment. Students are not being pushed by No Child Left Behind, they are left in the comfort zone of their core subjects and are not encouraged to go beyond these subjects. 53% reported that their funding for their program had stayed the same, while 43% claimed their funding decreased in all or some areas of their arts programs (Sabol). No Child Left Behind was meant to improve classes and teaching, but has not had a large impact on the fine arts programs. 

There is an importance of fostering this creativity in the education system and when this is taken away, problems begin to arise (Robinson). Instead of trying to crush a child’s creativity and interest, the education system needs to be a tool to help children recognize what they are passionate about, so they can pursue it professionally. Picasso believed that “all children are born artists”, the issue is that we are pressured in society to “grow up” from these ideas (Robinson). As children, we do not develop and grow to creativity, we develop out of it, this is partially due to education (Robinson). Education systems are based on academic ability. Children are taught they will never be able to get a job being any kind of artist. The whole school system is based on getting a higher education, going on to attend a college or university (Robinson). Even if parents are unsure about their child’s career and future, students must be encouraged to be educated in every way. This includes access to fine arts classes.

A major discrepancy is whether arts programs are beneficial to students, other than the fact that arts are a creative outlet. In studies taken by College Board in 2012, students that take arts credits are more likely to graduate from high school (Hawkins). When analyzing a public-school system in North Dakota, students claimed electives were the main reason they enjoyed coming to school (Hambek). Arts students have an improved outlook of their education. Arts students tend to have higher SAT scores. Through the arts people discover more about themselves and they broaden their minds beyond the required academic classes, benefiting them in their future careers (Hawkins). 

There is always another side to an issue, portions of the public believe that arts programs should be cut. Schools are intended for academics, not electives. Learning how to paint and sing are not as beneficial as learning Math. Getting an education should be a student’s top priority, but students are becoming more and more distracted by arts. Students work on their sketch book or end up humming in class instead of listening to the teacher (Abramson). When mixing extracurricular classes and academic classes a problem arises, students become more passionate about their art classes and being to “neglect their core classes”. When schools cut fine arts programs, students are not deprived of a creative outlet, if they truly care about the arts, they will find places to go after school. A lot of the research done with cognitive-behavior have little neuroscience to back it up. The tests done need to be adopted by more of the nation’s educators and employers to get a more accurate representation (Gillford). 

Arts programs should be associated with the whole learning process, because of how it teaches students other disciplines, besides how to create (Hausman). Arts programs should be at the core of education in public schools. Art educators are required for professional developments and will “expand students’ knowledge and skills, while improving quality for education” (Sabol). 

With many schools starting to cut arts programs there is a negative impact on students that could have had a bright future in these areas. The public schools currently cannot equip students to apply for these scholarships, because of the lack of funding, their programs cannot be taken seriously or the students do not have enough experience.

It is statistically proven that the arts help students academically and mentally. Many students want to pursue the arts as a career; there is no way they could receive this benefit with the arts being cut from their schools. Especially because students are looked down upon for pursuing a career in the arts, believing most will end up being “starving artists” and not have a “real job”. Additionally, the arts cuts are started at such a low level, elementary school, student’s will not want to be involved in art at a higher level. They have not had the exposure and do not feel that the classes are important, not seeing how much the classes could benefit them. Students are losing the chance to get the basics and a low level and develop the love that some young students have for fine arts, just because schools cannot afford arts programs. Students will only take arts classes for the credit when they reach high school, they will not continue their education in the arts, because they have no interest in them. 

Schools at this rate do not have strong enough programs to support students that would be interested in the arts. The interest in arts will stop developing in children, due to the arts not being in school systems, creating an end to artists, musicians, actors, and dancers. The world will greatly be affected by this change, because art is everywhere in our world: movies, TV shows, architecture, Broadway shows, ballets, art the walls of our homes, and many more things. There should be someone creating this art, not all artists are “starving”. The arts should be seen as beneficial to children and should not be cut out of the community completely.

There should be areas in the community that have outreach programs, so students can still have a place to grow and have a creative outlet, without having to pay. There are places trying to begin this process. Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, in North Carolina, has started an outreach program and has partnered with different schools that cannot afford to have arts programs. This outreach program brings classes to the schools for free, just so students can have the art exposure from educated fine arts teachers. The Children’s Theatre has enough funding to provide supplies and well educated teachers for students who may not have access to the arts. This opportunity gives the students who would like to pursue classes in the arts the attention and creative outlet they deserve to have. 

Budget cuts are not something that can be controlled, but seeing that the arts are beneficial to students, they should be able to access a free outlet if they would choose to. More areas should adopt this outreach idea. These outreach programs are the best way for children to have access to the arts outside of their schools. 

There are foundations trying to support schools, Josh Groban’s Find Your Light, is providing “direct support to organizations that provide arts education to kids in underserved communities” (“FAQ”). Schools are starting to lose their arts programs; students are losing the opportunity to find themselves and find their light. Find Your Light has helped fifty-six school and this can grow, helping fund more schools and outreach programs. Schools should not have to cut their fine arts programs, there should be a separate set of funding for programs that will likely be affected by budget cuts, so there can be fundraisers and more organizations like Find Your Light that can help the schools undergoing budget cuts. 

Students will greatly benefit from having access to the arts and the community will not see art disappear from this world. This should be an idea that is stretched beyond just theater and should be used for all the art forms. Fine arts are not a required skill, but they are beneficial and students should be able to be fully educated in the ways that they desire, society should not hold them back. 
