The Diminishing Role of the Arts in Schools
Written by Luke Dalton Elmendorf
What are the arts in schools?
The arts are simply anything that could be classified as artwork. For example this is everything from theatre, music, traditional artwork, metal and woodworking, sculpture, and many more. Art in schools are programs/classes that can help students channel and learn about these various outlets. This would essentially be programs and coursework that help students to discover, learn, and participate in these various creative outlets.
Why Select this Topic
I decided to go this route for a few reasons. The first being that since a very young age I have been very passionate about music and the arts in general. Very often I found that growing up there were little to no opportunities in school that supported my interests and finding other individuals that were also interested was a very difficult task simply due to the fact that many of my fellow peers had not been exposed to or expressed interest in those topics. Secondly, for the last few years, I have been teaching a variety of instruments at various schools and currently an institution known as School of Rock. In teaching, I now see the other side of this issue that many of these programs are not adequately taught to the children of today even less so than when I was in elementary school. The arts programs have been continuously cut and made smaller and smaller with music often being one of the first programs cut and it absolutely breaks my heart.
Why are arts programs being cut?
First, I would like to make it clear that I am talking about the public education system, there are plenty of private schools that have their own curriculum and make their own decisions as to how handle the arts. Now, as to why they are being cut there are a few reasons as to why. The first being that individuals who run school districts may not fully understand the benefits as to what the arts offer to students. This would help to explain as to why over 7000 schools do not have or support any form of a music program. Secondly, budgeting. Simply put, the current model as to how public schools are being funded leads to schools having department cuts, and with arts being viewed as non-essential and misunderstood they are usually the first to go. These two reasons tell us why the arts are being removed being that there is a clear lack of understanding for the arts and what they offer, however it doesn't answer as to why there is this understanding in the first place.
Why the arts are viewed as non-essential
Simply put, we live in a capitalist society. When people think of high paying successful jobs and career paths, our minds often go straight to jobs that have high monetary value and benefits. The arts are a unique field of business in that there are little to no barriers to entry, therefore anybody can release works in an attempt to enter the market. Due to anybody being able to release works this creates a highly competitive and volatile market as where it is hard to climb to the top and even harder to stay there. All of these aspects make the arts often times the first of extracurricular programs to be cut in schools.
How do people feel about it?
Contrary to what some may say, many people believe that arts should be in schools along with the government. According to Education Through Music, 88% of families believe that music is essential to child development and the creation of a well rounded education. The government also clearly feels this way is it is mandated by California law that music and art programs be taught however 90% of public schools fail to offer these programs.
The benefits of the arts in schools
Some of the benefits of the arts according to Jeannie Flores from EdSource in an interview with Julie Baker, the executive director of California Art Advocates, "Students with access to arts education are five times less likely to drop out of school, four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and four times more likely to receive a bachelor’s degree. And in this particular moment, arts classes can also play a critical role in helping students recover from “the dual traumas of systemic racism and a global pandemic."
How do the kids directly feel about it?
A brief disclaimer for this section. What made me feel most strongly about this was simply speaking with my current students and so I had decided to gain their testimony to support these claims. However, due to legality of them being minors I could not take their names and faces without parental consent and a I rarely engage with their parents, therefore, the names, faces and identities of my students will remain anonymous. I will type out our conversations as they were rather than summarize them.
Student 1
S1 (student 1): Sure!
L: Great, well do you like school?
S1: I guess so...
L: That's good I guess *laughing*, It's okay if you don't, I didn't really like school growing up either...
S1: Ok *laughing*
L: Do you get to play guitar at school?
S1: No
L: Why not, don't you have music classes?
S1: When I was littler I did, but now we don't really do that stuff anymore
L: Why not?
S1: Hmmm... I don't really know.
L: Do you think you'd like school more if you could play in a band or something at school?
S1: Maybe.
L: Ok, well I don't want to eat up all of our lesson time so lets get to jammin'.
Student 2
L: Hey ___, how's it going today?
S2: It's going good.
L: Awesome, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your school real quick before we get started today?
S2: Sure
L: Awesome, well, do you like school?
S2: Not really *laughing*
L: *laughing* Trust me I get it, I didn't really like school either. Does your school have any support for music and slash or arts programs?
S2: I mean we have a theatre program and some art classes and a band program but not its not anything crazy.
L: What do you mean by that?
S2: Like the art classes are kind of a joke and an easy A, the theatre program does a big play every semester and the band team just plays at like football games and pep rallies.
L: Ahh, does your school offer any of the AP art or music programs?
S2: There's AP art programs?
L: *Laughing* Yea, I took a few of the AP art programs at my high school but they didn't offer any of the Music ones.
*S2 then asked about the art programs for a while and then we began our lesson*
I did go ahead and interview more students however, my blog is already plenty long and I feel that I should go ahead and wrap this up
Conclusion
It was really heartbreaking to hear from my students that arts are being cut even more so than I thought, especially since I grew up in San Diego and assumed that many schools up here in Los Angeles would have an even greater support and affliction towards the arts given the nature of the strong art presence. Our schools and education system requires more attention as we need to supply these kids with opportunity to discover and learn about what the arts can do in order to provide a fully rounded out education. Some of these kids may be like me in the sense that they love the arts and simply need direction to learn and cultivate their relationship with the arts.
Sources Used
https://edsource.org/2022/too-many-california-schools-fail-to-provide-mandated-arts-education-lets-fix-that/679554#:~:text=California%20law%20mandates%20standards%2Dbased,music%2C%20theater%20and%20visual%20art.
https://etmonline.org/why-music-education/?gclid=CjwKCAiAvK2bBhB8EiwAZUbP1PwcOvqtwDM55si4bcq_hhi55F02l3nQyI-ki6EdAeUqyvxYzJVQiBoCZX8QAvD_BwE#
https://thevault.musicarts.com/the-most-common-arguments-against-music-education-how-to-counter-them/
https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/schools-cutting-music-programs/
https://www.petaluma360.com/article/news/arts-education-just-kind-of-started-disappearing-from-countys-schools/
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2333&context=caps_thes_all
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