INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE

Benefits

Arts education benefits both student and society. Involving the "whole child" in the arts gradually teaches many types of literacy while developing intuition, sensitivity, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity. This process requires not merely an active mind but a trained one. Arts education helps students perceive and think in new ways. The arts also help provide and extend meaning. Because so much of a child's education in the early years is devoted to acquiring the skills of language and mathematics, children gradually learn, unconsciously, that the "normal" way to think is linear and sequential, that the pathway to understanding moves from beginning to end, from cause to effect. In this early mode, students trust those symbol systems (words, numbers, and abstract concepts) that separate the person from their experiences. But the arts teach a different lesson by often starting in a different place. The arts cultivate the senses that trust the unmediated flash of insight as a legitimate source of knowledge. The arts connect person and experience directly, building bridges between verbal and nonverbal, logic and emotion--the better to gain an understanding of the whole. Both approaches are powerful; both are necessary. To deny students either is to disable them.

An education in the arts benefits society because students of the arts disciplines gain powerful tools for:

• understanding human experiences, both past and present;
• teamwork and collaboration;
• making decisions creatively when no prescribed answers exist;
• learning to adapt to and respect others' (diverse) ways of thinking, working, and expressing themselves;
• learning problem recognition and problem solving, involving expressive, analytical, and developmental tools to every human situation (this is why we speak, for example, of the "art" of teaching or the "art" of politics);
• understanding the influence of the arts and their power to create and reflect cultures, the impact of design on our daily life, and in the interdependence of work in the arts with the broader worlds of ideas and action;
• developing the essential senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and kinesthetics as intellectual, emotional, physical, creative, and expressive acts;
• analyzing nonverbal communication and making informed judgments about cultural products and issues; and
• communicating effectively.

In a world inundated with contradictory messages and meanings, arts education in one or more of the arts disciplines helps young people explore, understand, accept, and use ambiguity and subjectivity. In art as in life, there is often no clear or "right" answer to questions that are nonetheless worth pursuing ("Should the trees in this painting be a little darker shade of green?"). At the same time, study in any of the four art disciplines in the classroom bring excitement and exhilaration to the learning process. Study and competence reinforce each other; students become increasingly interested in learning, add new dimensions to what they already know, and want to learn even more. The joy of learning becomes real, tangible, powerful!

Value of the Arts

Perhaps most important, the arts have intrinsic value. They are worth learning for their own sake, providing benefits not available through any other means. To read Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," for example, is to know one kind of beauty, yet to hear it sung by a great chorus as the majestic conclusion to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is to experience beauty of an entirely different kind, an experience that for many is sublime. Because these deeply felt experiences transcend our daily reality, there is no substitute for the arts, which provide bridges to things we can scarcely describe, but respond to deeply. In the simplest terms, no education is complete without them.

The arts also contribute to education beyond their intrinsic value. Because each arts discipline appeals to different senses and expresses itself through different media, each adds a special richness to the learning environment. An education in the arts helps students learn to identify, appreciate, and participate in the traditional art forms of their own communities. As students imagine, create, and reflect, they are developing both the verbal and nonverbal abilities necessary for school progress. At the same time, the intellectual demands of the arts help students develop problem-solving abilities and such critical thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information. Numerous studies point toward a consistent and positive correlation between a substantive education in the arts and student achievement in other subjects and on standardized tests. A comprehensive articulated arts education program also engages students in a process that helps them develop the self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for success in life.

Connections Between the Arts, Students and the World

If education in the arts is to serve its proper function, each student must develop an understanding of such questions as these: What are the arts? How do artists work and what tools do they use? How do traditional, popular, and classical art forms influence one another? Why are the arts important to me and my society? As students seek the answers to these questions, they develop an understanding of the essence of each arts discipline, and of the knowledge and skills that enliven it. This does not imply that every student will acquire a common set of artistic values. Ultimately, students are responsible for their own values.

The affirmations below draw significant connections among the arts, the lives of students, and the world at large:

• The arts have both intrinsic and instrumental value; that is, they have worth in and of themselves and can be used to achieve a multitude of purposes (e.g., to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade, to entertain, to design, plan, and beautify).
• The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and building civilizations. Although each arts discipline makes its unique contributions to culture, society, and the lives of individuals, their connections to each other enable the arts disciplines to produce more than any of them could produce alone.
• The arts are a way of knowing. Students grow in their ability to comprehend their world when they learn the arts. As they create dances, music, theatrical productions, and visual artworks, they learn how to express themselves and how to communicate with others.
• The arts have value and significance for daily life. They provide personal fulfillment, whether in vocational settings, avocational pursuits, or leisure.
• Lifelong participation in the arts is a valuable part of a life fully lived and should be cultivated.
• Appreciating the arts means understanding the interactions among the various professions and roles involved in creating, performing, studying, teaching, presenting, and supporting the arts, and in appreciating their interdependent nature.
• Awakening to folk arts and their influence on other arts deepens respect for one's own and for others' communities.
• Openness, respect for work, and contemplation when participating in the arts as an observer or audience member are personal attitudes that enhance enjoyment and ought to be developed.
• The arts enhance and sharpen one's abilities to inquire and express.
• Because the arts offer the continuing challenge of situations in which there is no standard or approved answer, those who study the arts become acquainted with many perspectives on the meaning of "value."
• The modes of thinking and methods of the arts disciplines can be used to illuminate situations in other disciplines that require creative solutions.
• Attributes such as self-discipline, the collaborative spirit, and perseverance, which are so necessary to the arts, can transfer to the rest of life.
• The arts provide forms of nonverbal communication that can strengthen the presentation of ideas and emotions.
• Each person has a responsibility to advance civilization. The arts encourage taking this responsibility and provide skills and perspectives for doing so.

As students work at meeting artistic challenges, they are preparing to make their own contributions to the nation's culture. The more students live up to these high expectations, the more empowered our citizenry will become. Helping students grow in the arts is one of the best possible investments in the future of our country and civilization.

Access

All students deserve access to the rich education and understanding that the four arts disciplines provide, regardless of their background, talents, or disabilities. In an increasingly technological environment overloaded with sensory data, the ability to perceive, interpret, understand, and evaluate such stimuli is critical. The arts help all students to develop multiple capabilities for understanding and deciphering an image- and symbol-laden world. Thus, the arts should be an integral part of the general education for all students. In particular, students with disabilities, who are often excluded from arts programs, can derive great benefit from them--and for the same reasons that studying the arts benefits students who are not disabled. As many teachers can testify, the arts can be a powerful vehicle--sometimes the best vehicle--for reaching, motivating, and teaching a given student. At the same time, there is a continuing need to make sure that all students have access to the learning resources and opportunities they need to succeed. Thus, as in any area of the curriculum, providing a sound education in the arts will depend in great measure on creating access to opportunities and resources.

In this context, the idea that all education in the arts is just for "the talented," and not for "regular students" or those with disabilities, can be a stumbling block. The argument that relegates the arts to the realm of passive experience for the majority, or that says a lack of "real talent" disqualifies most people from learning to draw, play an instrument, dance, or act, is quite simply wrong. Clearly, students have different aptitudes and abilities in the arts, but differences are not disqualifications. An analogy may be helpful. We expect mathematical competence of all students because knowledge of mathematics is essential to shaping and advancing our society, economy, and civilization. Yet no one ever advances the proposition that only those who are mathematically ''talented'' enough to earn a living as mathematicians should study long division or algebra. Neither, then, should talent be a factor in determining the place or value of the arts in an individual's basic education.

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