Should American High School art programs be protected from budget cuts? When America was created, the arts were essential, from architecture to ornamental arts and even maps. The reduction of arts in education has been an articled issue for more than 20 years and schools have either drastically reduced their art programs or cut them completely. The focus on academics in recent years has led to many opinionated articles about arts in education. During the early years of colonized America, the arts were heavily relied upon to teach moral standards, design architecture, and is seen as an equal to reading and writing. After 1810, the population of America was increasing quite quickly and, instead of letting the multitudes of children have free time, drawing was encouraged so that they could learn moral standards. This was at a time where education was reserved for the wealthy and public schools hadn’t been invented yet. When schools were being established, the students would beautify the classrooms and school ground to show the accomplishment of their education. In Pennsylvania, a tenured teacher, Rembrandt Peale, made a connection between drawing and writing and described it as, “an element of practical preparation for work in industry (Wygant, 1983, …show more content…
Since 2008 approximately 80% of schools nationwide have experienced budget cuts. With the No Child Left Behind act, where elementary and middle schools must meet state standard testing, and Common Core State Standards, the expectations for each grade levels knowledge of English and Math, the school administrators need to decide what is more important. Arts like choir, dance, theatre are the first to get cut. In history the arts have been cut significantly at certain times, because of war or the Great Depression in the 1930’s, but they have always found a way back into