Should Arts Education Be Cut Analysis

RST - Arts Education Funding Should Not Be Cut

Numerous schools are considering cutting funds from arts educations to expand STEM classes. However, this money is likely to be spent on “room and board for...young people in our prison system” instead (Source A)! As mentioned, schools are planning on cutting funds from arts education to spend instead on science and mathematics classes. This is based on the belief that spending money on STEM classes will strengthen scores. In turn, students will have better lives and job opportunities, and everything will overall be better. On the contrary, while it may seem ludicrous, it is essential to keep an arts education. Without the arts, students will be missing a variety of benefits. Arts education funding

For example, experience from an arts education can be applied to a variety of different jobs. In Source D, an animator named David Giraud states that a computer program he works with daily, Z-Brush, is similar to sculpting clay. David Giraud uses Z-Brush to create many intricate video game characters, which are then used in marketing and in video games. This evidence displays one, out of many possible jobs in which experience from working with the arts would be useful. Source A additionally mentions that people who worked on artistic crafts as adults invented more and had more registered patents. This fact indicates that people who work actively in the arts are more creative, since it proves people who are more active in the arts create more inventions. In addition, this evidence demonstrates another job in which an arts education is valuable: being an inventor. In addition, a Michigan State University study found that the arts are valuable tools “...for the economic recovery of Michigan and the nation” (Source A). In July 2011, Michigan’s unemployment rate was 10.9 percent (Source A). Using education in the arts will help people obtain more jobs, which is essential in this time of high unemployment rates. By keeping arts education funding, a variety of future opportunities are opened for

For instance, Source A mentions jazz music helped lift the spirit of the country during the Great Depression, and that teaching students this can inspire them to triumph over challenges, similarly to how jazz helped the country triumph over financial problems. Perseverance is an important trait to have, especially when facing financial or social issues. As well, Leonardo da Vinci wrote “Perspective is a rational demonstration by which experience confirms that every object sends its image to the eye by a pyramid of lines…” (Source C). Earlier in the same notebook, Leonardo stated that drawing is based on perspective (Source C). What da Vinci wrote demonstrates that it is important to learn from experiences you have, whether the experience is a mistake, problem, or project. Finally, in Source D, the animator being interviewed (David Giraud) discusses how you are pushed to do your best when animating. Put simply, the arts encourages you to create your best possible final product. Among the priceless life skills an arts education teaches includes perseverance, learning from experiences, and doing your