Everyone knows that when a state's school system has budget
issues the arts are the first to go.
What is not broadly known is the impact of dismissing art
from the lives of our children.
'Champions of Change, the Impact of the Arts on Learning'
is the most comprehensive study on the subject of students
involvement in the fine arts and how it relates to academic
success.
The study - based on a wide range of students across
America - makes an incredibly strong case that students
achieve academic success more frequently and in higher
numbers when they are involved with the fine arts.
Per the study;
- 82.6% of 8th graders earned mostly As and Bs who were
involved heavily in fine arts versus 67.2% earning As and
Bs who were not.
- 30.07% of the respondents who participate in fine arts
performs community service where only 6.28% of the
respondents who do not participate in fine arts perform
community service.
- Students who are not heavily involved in fine arts have
more than double the chance of dropping out of school by
the 10th grade.
- 56.64% of the respondents who participate in fine arts
read for pleasure where only 34.62% of the respondents who
do not participate in fine arts read for pleasure.
These are just some of the findings in the particular study.
Fine arts help teach students far more than how to draw
roses in a vase, or how to play the violin.
They help stimulate the creative part of the child's mind,
teach discipline, instill a sense of pride, accomplishment,
and self-worth.
These attributes not only help students do better
academically, but do better in their adult life, with their
career, their new family, their emotional well being.
So what do you do if your child's school has had major cuts
in their art program?
Your first option is, of course, private lessons. There are
pros and cons that you should be aware of when going this
route.
Lets look at the pros first.
First, due to budget cuts and pressure for schools to
ensure their students score well on standardized testing
(oddly enough the students who are involved in the arts
score better on average) the arts get less attention that
other subjects in school. Thus the quality of instruction
suffers.
Meaning your child has an excellent chance of getting
better fine art instruction in a professional fine art
instruction environment. The classes are smaller, sometimes
even one on one. The instructor only has to teach that
particular art form.
The other pro to going outside of your school for fine art
education is that your child's success is intimately tied
into the instructors income.
A public school teacher who has half of their art class
receive failing grades will still be paid the same at the
end of the week.
The equivalent in the private art instruction world would
mean a bankrupt business in a very short order.
Private art instruction is a business, they have to deliver
a good product or they will not be around for any length of
time.
The major con to private lessons is of course if you cannot
afford them for your child.
Private lessons cost money. Knowing the benefits of a child
being educated in the fine arts, I would happily drive a
less luxurious car, or eat out less often to ensure their
fine art education.
However this may not be an option if, say you are a single
parent, and there is too much month left after the end of
your money.
To wrap up this point, private lessons are great, often
better than what is provided even in schools that have
ample art and music budgets.
However alternative means may be needed if you cannot
afford them.
There are things that you can do to help your local school
raise money for their art programs.
First and foremost is fund raising. This can be gone about
in a variety of ways.
For example in my high school in Burbank California a
parent spoke to executives at NBC studios. Two months later
NBC donated professional video and editing equipment to our
school. Everything for the fine art of film making was at
our school.
It may take a bit of creative thinking and a lot of leg
work, but your local businesses or local celebrities could
be a fantastic funding source for your school. In return
they get good PR.
There are the more traditional fund raising events, bake
sales, car washes, yard sales, and gaining popularity, the
auction.
The real make break point for the above types of fund
raisers is having the right person in-charge to ensure that
all the details are taken care of and everyone is doing
what they are supposed to be doing.
If no one shows up to the car wash because no one knew
about it, it won't do anyone much good. Nor will the one
pan of brownies at the bake sale.
Organize and communicate.
I know a good amount of people. More pertinently I know
people who know more people than I could ever hope to know.
When faced with the problem of "our schools classical music
program desperately needs instruments" can seem an
insurmountable problem to solve by yourself.
However when you have a network of hundreds of concerned
people it looks more like this.
An email/phone call/mailer goes to your network about the
problem.
Everyone looks in their home and asks people they know for
donations of spare instruments (I actually donated a very
nice classical guitar to a school last year).
Perhaps you find a few instruments in great condition that
have been sitting in closets and garages untouched for 20
years.
You now invite your network and everyone your network knows
to a bowling night fund raiser. You make $20 for everyone
who shows up. 50 people show. There is a $1000 right there
for new instruments.
Next week you get local businesses and people in your
network to donate items of value for an auction. You get
kids to pass out fliers and put up posters around town, put
up announcements in craigslist, your local paper, and of
course make sure everyone in your network knows and that
they are telling everyone else.
The auction is a success raising $3,000.
When you have enough money for the instruments have the
kids study hard and put on a fund raiser concert, charge
$10 and put the money aside. Somehow someone will manage to
lose a tuba.
As you can see, a group can be a powerful thing in regards
to getting things done.
What happens if your school is so strapped for cash and so
over crowded that they cannot afford the fine art teacher
let alone the space for art classes?
And what if there are no reputable private fine art
instruction schools local, or you cannot afford them at
this time?
At this point you have to take matters entirely in your own
hands. However you are not entirely alone!
There are products on the market, that for a low cost, can
still help educate your child in the fine arts.
Here is an example, for a onetime payment of $30 you can
have you child take online violin lessons with Violin
Master Pros.
There are also online lessons and DVD instruction programs
for other musical instruments, writing, drawing, and more.
Any will be far more productive than another evening of
video games or cable TV.
Beware of asking uncle John - who plays the piano - to
teach your child. Just because one knows how to do
something does not mean they know how to teach it!
Bad lessons can very quickly turn your child off to the
arts. Even if your school all of a sudden receives a huge
grant for their art program it won't do much good if your
child is stale on art.
All in all our societies viewpoint must be changed in
regards to how important the arts are to our children and
our future.
It is a proven fact that children do better in standardized
testing when involved in the fine arts. Yet many schools
will cut art and music to focus on getting better scoring
results!
A tiny portion of our defense budget would easily fund art
and music in our schools nationwide.
Many parents have the viewpoint, 'if it is not reading or
arithmetic then what real use is it my child'?
Yet in the top science schools in America all have a
extensive fine art programs in their universities for a
reason. It helps students perform academically!
It is our job as parents, budget cuts or no budget cuts, to
ensure that our children receive the fine art education
that they need.
If we don't do it for our children, who is going to?
----------------------------------------------------
Eric Hines has worked in the field of art for over a decade
as a musician, art dealer and is currently employed by
Mission Renaissance, the world's largest drawing and
painting instruction program in the world. He is currently
taking art classes to learn to draw and paint, very soon he
will be selling his own art work and not just the works of
others. You can visit the Mission Renaissance website at
http://www.thegluckmethod.com
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