Art is an important aspect of our lives that we don't appreciate as much as we should. It goes far beyond any technique or style, and for each individual, art is a reflection of his or her own unique identity. As a whole, art provides numerous purposes to the community and society.
It has been seen through research and studies that there is a relationship between the arts and high academic achievement. Although mathematics, sciences, and history are important, they only expose students to 'part of the reality of the world'. Likewise, the arts only expose the student to 'part of the reality of the world'. Neither will be sufficient on its own and so, a variety of subjects are necessary to present a more complete and more comprehensive education. An analysis of the 1999 Commonwealth Accountability Testing System scores has shown a statistically significant relationship between the arts and humanities scores and math scores.
English: Tillson, NY, USA, looking north along NY ...
English: A panorama of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania fr...
Primirea la Nicolae Ceauşescu a ministrului econo...For every one point increase in a school's arts and humanities score, its math score will likely be 1.143 points higher (Wilhoit).
Having a strong art curriculum and establishing the affiliation of all the core subjects are a dominant means to improve education. A recent study showed that students who participated in more than four years of arts education, as opposed to students who only participated half a year or less of arts education scored 57 points higher on the verbal SAT and 43 points higher on the math section. One school took the initiative to change the way their students were educated and are already seeing results (Wilhoit).
The Daviess County Public Schools district began a new program that includes eight major components; arts, music, foreign language, reading, critical thinking, health and community involvement. Professional artists instruct all students in dance, theatre, and visual...