Advocate for the Arts
I’ve written about the importance of education and arts education in this blog before. I wanted to pick up that mantle once again, and share a letter I just sent today to our elected officials, urging them to support $53 million in funding for arts education for fiscal year 2011.
You’ll find my letter below. The first paragraph, along with paragraphs three, four, and five, were all provided for me here. I added the second, third, and closing paragraphs. If you want to send your own letter (you can do it through email, it takes less than five minutes), you can simply cut and paste using the talking points provided and sign your name.
The more we get behind these kinds of initiatives, the more responsibility we assume for the future of our children… and if we aren’t responsible for them, who will be?
–Sue
_________________________________________________________________
Dear Congressperson :
I am writing to urge you to continue support for arts education by supporting $53 million in funding for the FY11 Arts in Education program at the Department of Education.
As a former educator in New York public schools, I found many ways to integrate the arts into everyday lessons — whether that meant playing a musical selection, drawing an image on the board or using collage to help stimulate the imaginations of my students and help them visualize what I was saying, role playing and theatre exercises were also critical, especially when reading major works of literature and for public speaking exercises.
Unfortunately, not every teacher takes the time, energy, and effort to weave these aspects into lesson plans (especially with so much pressure to teach to the standardized tests). Therefore, a designated arts curriculum is the only way to insure that most students will be exposed to a well rounded education that actually helps them be creative problem solvers in school and beyond.
The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the arts as a core academic subject, making them eligible for inclusion in broad categories such as teacher training, school reform, and technology. However, recent studies have shown that some schools are neglecting arts education in favor of other core subjects such as math and science.
The arts are proven to help close the achievement gap. The collection of research described in Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development finds that learning in the arts may be uniquely able to boost learning and achievement for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction.
Arts Education helps prepare a creative workforce. A 2006 report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce said in its executive summary, “The best employers the world over will be looking for the most competent, most creative, and most innovative people on the face of the earth and will be willing to pay them top dollar for their services.” The report includes the arts as an essential skill for the future workforce.
Thank you for your time and attention to this pressing matter. Together we can insure a brighter future for our students.
Sincerely,
Susan Hodara
Add comment July 28th, 2010
