www.washingtonpost.com: You don’t find school reformers talking much about how we need to train more teachers in the arts, given the current obsession with science, math, technology and engineering (STEM), but here’s a list of skills that young people learn from studying the arts. They serve as a reminder that the arts — while important to study for their intrinsic value — also promote skills seen as important in academic and life success. (That’s why some people talk about changing the current national emphasis on STEM to STEAM.) This was written by Lisa Phillips is an author, blog journalist, arts and leadership educator, speaker and business owner.
16 comments:
I think this article is very important because it demonstrates how the arts can help in a multitude of ways regardless of career path. There was an article in Forbes a few year back stating that if someone had a minor in theatre in combination with business or another artistic minor they were far more likely to be hired. I think this is shown in the different sections by the author and how each one can aid in future life endeavors.
I agree with Alex and believe that this article brings up some very important points about the many ways that art can help a child grow. Although the article didn't say this, Alex's point about the Forbes article is also an awesome way to look at it. Business and art/theatre go really well together because its basically the best of both sides of the brain. I have seen many classes in my hometown schooling system that teach special needs children math and english through art projects and music projects. One of my good friends is working for the MET Opera Teaching Co. teaching children subjects through the writing of musical theatre. Art has always been great at stimulating my mind and I agree with this article 100%
I think this article hit some really great points on why the arts should be taught, and how no matter what art is useful every where. I read another article about a year ago that broke down what people thought were the most useless majors. On top of that list was art and theatre, I really could not believe that every bit of entertainment people listen to, watch, and surround themselves with could be taken for granted some much. I think this article has a strong points to show that the arts are very important to creating well rounded people along with how people function in society. I also wanted to add an 11th one to that list which is There is no Right answer so we always keep learning. I think to me this is very important because though creating every project there is really no way I can get exactly the right answer. If I painted something red there was always the option to paint it blue and because of this I will keep learning how and what is effected by this and develop my own version of right answers along the way.
To be quite honest, there are sometimes moments when I wonder exactly what I am learning and how I'll get to use it in the future. I know I'm learning valuable lessons about my craft while in school but I think this article was a great reminder of just how valuable those lessons are. Comparatively, sometimes I feel a little silly studying art instead of business or something more "reliable" but reading this article really restored my faith, actually. I very much agree with children needing to learn about the arts. Accountability was one lesson that really stood out to me. We indeed have a very collaborative art and I feel today's generation could use a good reminder of how taking accountability in group collaborations works.
This article is a really great reminder of why the arts are so important. There are things that I never really thought about I just assumed that learned then from a young age but I never attributed them to the art. Especially the part about perseverance. I know that growing up playing instruments I would practice violin until my fingers were bruised so that the sound would sound perfect then I would switch to the piano and continue to practice till my whole hands were sore. Looking back on it I don't think I would have learned to be so patient or persevering if not for music. The same for dance and art. It just makes me think how sad it is that many school are cutting their art programs to cut back on budget.
I think absolutely everything that this article said is completely true. Every single one of those qualities that were mentioned I see and experience while interacting with my classmates every day. There's a reason why there are no other people like theater people: its because we spend our lives learning about problem solving and bending simple rules and pushing ourselves and other people out of their comfort zones and learning how to communicate through gestures and sound effects. It drives me crazy that people don't think the arts are important and I think this article does a fantastic job of explaining why they are.
I think this article is great, and does a good job of laying out the advantages of an education that includes the arts. I've heard most of these before, but one that really stuck out to me that I hadn't thought about much was "Receiving Constructive Feedback." So many of my non-arts focused friends consistently have a problem with receiving criticism and accepting it as constructive, and some of that may be attributed to personality but its possible that some of it is also related to the lack of the arts. For the most part, a math or science problem has a right or wrong answer, and if your process and answer is correct, there's not really much room for critique, beyond "Maybe you could have done the experiment or problem more efficiently." In the arts, there is no right and wrong answer, and so I think that even beyond being able to receive criticism, the arts also teaches the acceptance of subjectiviy: not everyone thinks the same way, and your way is not necessarily the only right way.
I agree completely with the message this article sends. Doing theater has taught me all of these skills and has in addition helped me to become well adjusted and adaptable. I don't think we can limit this to just kids. Going to this school has reenforced all of those points. I feel prepared for living in the real world.
In growing theater i see how we effect them. Their faces light up and they get excited about learning. The kids get more social and willing to share ideas. They instantly are more comfortable and more confident. Its awesome.
This article is spot on. I know personally that most of my geometric and spatial thinking comes directly from the work I do in theater. Building braces introduced me to the Pythagoras Theorem. Turntables teach about pi and rpms. And period references in plays have taught me more about the past than anything else. The arts provide fun and tangible ways for children to flourish intellectually, whether it be mathematically, literary, or more!
Well I hate to be the only one to disagree, but I didn't buy at least half of this. The implication for each item seems to be that each item is something uniquely received from the arts. As a quick rundown, I completely agree with the first one, art is the best way to learn creativity, Non-verbal communication,and collaboration.But I think the others are qualities better taught elsewhere. And Im thinking about this is terms of how arts are actually taught. Ive seen a place where theater was required and a lot of these are theater based qualities. Just because a quality could be learned under a specific art does not mean that by teaching general art, the qualities will be learned. I refer to confidence with that one, and also maybe receiving constructive feedback. Although I think any child even going into the arts is much better served learning how to receive constructive criticism from a writing teacher. And problem solving is probably better learned in a math class. Im pretty sure the way they misuse perseverance is better stated as dedication. Perseverance (at least as I know it) would be if the kid playing an instrument lost a finger but learned to play anyway. Just learning to play it, and working your way toward the harder pieces, is called dedication. Putting accountability on this list kind of just seems silly. I think the arts are important, and I agree with the basic premise of the article. However the article is trying to say the arts need to be taught along side math, science, tech, and engineering. So the list should focus on things uniquely gained from the arts, not all possible qualities that could be gained from any art form.
I know as a child, the arts were definitely a huge part in who i am today, and what im doing with my life. i went to a public school for all of my life and the arts funding was minimal and only got worse. we did the best with what we had. But having it in my life at all really helped me in many ways. ive always been fairly good at art so when ever i was doing bad in another class art always helped me feel better about myself. Art is an amazing outlet for people of every age, but especially young children.
what this article says is true.
It's the typical article about the importance of arts in a young child's upbringing. I value the fact that my parents enrolled me in theatre and sports summer camps and extra curricular events, because I know that they shaped my character and also let me to pursue my dream career, or else I would have stuck on the path of doing a "REAL JOB" (as many don't think anything along the path of art is true employment unless you're rich and famous). Nevertheless I agree with all of the pointers that the article has raised and I think that many educational institutions have also realised this. Other disciplines have also recognized this, just look at how popular Psychodrama has become.
As someone who has often struggled with my decision to study music, this article was wonderful to read. It is so true that the skills we learn in studying art, any kind of art, are LIFE skills, not just craft skills. Also important to note is that while the arts may seem "useless" to some, per the article referenced by Nathan, I would challenge those who believe that to show me an industry that has unwaveringly thrived as much as art and culture. There isn't one. As long as there is civilization there will be a need for entertainment and art. And even those who aren't pursuing a career in the arts need them to succeed. As we deal with a growing population on a finite earth, we need people to get creative with solutions. Those people who can think creatively, outside the box, are the ones who will be the leaders of our society.
I like this article a lot. I come from a high school where the art department is pretty much destroyed. After my art teacher and I left the school, the studios were turned into labs for robotics and the school began to focus on science and sports. I hope they read this article, but I know that in reality they won't. I think this article brings up great points such as building self-confidence and collaboration. You can ask anyone in the DP freshman class, and they will say for the first week, I was the quiet one who didn't speak to anyone. Now, I'm one of the loudest people in class (sorry guys!). Being with artistic classmates, I am able to voice an opinion without fear, and that's what I love about theatre. On the other hand, the article left out some things about collaboration. It said that we have to work with each other in order to finish a project successfully. If one does not do their part, the whole group fails. They forgot to mention that art brings out the worst in people sometimes. We are forced to work in stressful situations and we learn that in the future we will have to work with people we don't like. Here, I'm learning to cope with those who I don't like in a somewhat graceful way. I am totally for the STEAM idea!
I've always found art to be a foundation for children to express themselves and truly be the free spirit they deserve to be. The thing that sucks though is that people don't realize what the arts does for kids so they try to take it away from them. That's why i love this article, it could actually prove a point and maybe get people back on track with some of the things that really matter in education. Back home, many arts programs were being cut and I don't honestly think the government was understanding what they were taking away, this article, in my opinion is applicable beyond the life of children in so many ways.
Obviously, as a child I was I was very heavily involved in the Arts I think it's so important for children to not only try many different things as they're developing like sports or different clubs at school, but I think the Arts are especially important because of all the valuable skills that they learn through the Arts many of which are mentioned in this article confidence is absolutely one that I agree with as someone who was definitely shy-er before they got involved with theater I also think that problem solving and perseverance are truly invaluable skills that the Arts require one to have especially if involved in the technical theater area collaboration is a skill that is adaptable to all areas of life and arts especially require this because of the nature of the work that we create being a good collaborator is something that is priceless. Dedication is also absolutely necessary as the best things come from hard work.
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