School Arts Programs: Should They Be Saved

Over the decades there has been an ongoing debate to change the United States education system to guide students on a superior future. With the establishment of the No Child Left Behind Act, the importance to score higher on standardized tests has resulted in making budget cuts in the arts programs in order to have more academic courses. When school administrations make budget cut decisions, the first thing to go is art, music, and theater classes. In 2017, the current United States administration has pushed to defund The National Endowment for the Arts which will demolish arts programs in public schools altogether. Arts programs are the characteristic that identifies lives that improve a student’s well being in a way that core curriculum

Valeriya Metal wrote an article, “School Arts Programs: Should They Be Saved?” and is passionate about the social issues that are happening and has performed research that shows students involved in arts programs help their brain take a break from academic studies. Deane Alban wrote an article called,“The Mental Health Benefits,” where she states that in order to help balanced emotions students need to exercise the right side of the brain and helps to look at the big picture than the details. In today's society, young people are developing anxiety, depression, and physically harming themselves at an early age. The arts programs help with self-discovery, self-expression, and helps students forget their problems for a moment. Being creative for an hour helps reduce stress, makes them feel loved and is a self-esteem booster. Being involved in the arts programs helps students learn how to control their emotion turn a negative into something positive in a creative

Winn High School to explore how the local arts in Eagle Pass suffer from budget cuts. This research took sixty student surveys and 45 students let their voices be heard on how they would feel about the defunding of the arts programs. The research discovered that the majority of the students come from abusive, single-parent households with money issues, and the arts programs are the only positive outlet they have in their life. The arts program make students feel they could change the world through the use of art and are part of something larger than themselves. One student wrote, “that his mother works two jobs to support her family and being in the band he hopes that his senior year he can receive a scholarship.” He wants to attend college and make a better life for himself. Some students join the arts program as a sort of survival, for instance, a particular student said that his mother is abusive towards him and the only way he would receive a meal was on the school trip he took. Arts programs are not a judgmental environment, students can be themselves and create a family bond with others of the same