first thoughts  Angela Lehman-Rios  

I’m a firm believer that the arts are a necessary part of the educational experience. I think it’s great that my daughter’s elementary school has music and visual art classes as part of the curriculum at least once a week. I felt lucky that Emily got to participate in the Richmond Ballet’s in-school dance program, “Minds in Motion” in fourth grade. I’m happy to hear from her and from people at other schools that some core subject teachers are integrating the arts into math, science and history classes, sort of.
So why am I still frustrated about the state of the arts experience in today’s academic environment?
Theoretically, I like the idea that the content of Emily’s art class reinforces what she’s learning in history. It sounds pedagogically right-on to have kids read stories in language arts class about oceans or molecules or whatever they’re studying in science class.

In reality, however, this depresses me. It seems like art always has to support a “core subjects” Standard of Learning. Why can’t kids just go to music class and sing or play drums or listen to violin concertos because art is intrinsically valuable? Why do we need the arts sold to us based on the miracle-cure model?
I get tired of hearing about how getting kids involved in the arts will raise their standardized test scores, improve their health, increase their IQs, and give them more job options, longer life and cuter pets.
I certainly believe all this is more or less true, though I don’t think it can be proved conclusively.
If the argument for keeping the arts in a school’s curriculum is framed only by art’s potential to improve students’ performance in other areas, we lose the argument as soon as “performance” is defined by standardized test scores or even by retention rates. It’s very difficult to separate out all the other factors influencing these measurements and show that art improves them.
I also believe that this argument misses the point. I want my children to draw, sing and write because to do so gives life pleasure, it articulates life’s pain, it clarifies life’s purpose.

Creating art is a uniquely human endeavor. Even though not everyone is an artist, art can reveal the humanity of others to us. For me, this is enough reason to secure the place of the arts in our schools. If a society doesn’t teach its children about recognizing each other’s humanity—our common goals, feelings, fears—it won’t be a society for long.
Through the practice of making or appreciating art, we can understand our capacity to be creative in other areas.
This understanding is a crucial part of an education. Solving problems—math problems, grammar problems, communication problems—is an act of creativity that is only supplemented by knowing formulas and rules, but is made possible by knowing one’s inherent creativity. And this creativity shouldn’t be limited by a mindset that considers art as simply utilitarian.

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