WHY IS ART EDUCATION VERY MUCH NEEDED IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

Engagement with art is essential for us humans because children start to communicate as much with their artistic expressions as they do with their motor skills. This is because art challenges us with an array of viewpoints and perspectives which compel us to empathize with others alongside allowing us to reflect on ourselves as well.

In adults, on the other hand, art reflects behavior that in turn contributes to the health of the society, including greater social tolerance, increased civic engagement, and reduction in rage-regarding behavior. We do have art as a curriculum in schools today but it is becoming increasingly tenuous! The problem is that the art we study lacks empirical evidence that it demonstrates an educational value; we do art just for the sake of it in schools. The research found out that having an art education experience has remarkable impacts on a child’s academic, social, and emotional wellbeing as compared to those students who didn’t study art as a subject in school. And hence here are a few amazing

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facts as to why meaningful art education is very much needed in the 21st century.

• Creativity:

This is literally a no-brainer. Art allows kids to express themselves better than mathematics, science, or even English. They can speak things through their artwork that they otherwise can’t. During an art class, a child will be asked to create a painting or do sculpture or pottery but irrespective of what they do, it won’t be monotonous rather it will help children unleash their creativity. If a child practices creative thinking regularly, it is bound to come to them naturally after a while. And this in turn will help them think outside the box in their careers and life in general.

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• Improved academic performance:

Art does not just help a child grow creatively but helps in critical growth as well. The creative skills then spill over into academic achievement as well! “A report by Americans for the Arts states that young people who participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a math and science fair or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate.”

• Fine and gross motor skills

This usually applies to younger children who engage in art of any kind. Simple things like holding a paintbrush, doing finger painting, scribbling with crayons are all important elements when it comes to the growth of young minds. This will help them find a creative escape from a very young age. As per the National Institutes of Health, developmental milestones include drawing circles, using scissors, drawing a square, and begin drawing and cutting straight lines! This will help children enhance their fine and gross motor skills.

• Visual learning

This point pertains mainly to young children; who are in the process of developing their skills and minds to help with their visual-spatial skills. Dr. Kerry Freedman, Head of Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois University says, Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn through text and numbers. Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and use visual information, and how to make choices based on it.

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• Decision making

Arts strengthens a child’s problem-solving skills as well as critical thinking skills. This also helps a child express themselves through making their own life choices, decisions, and learn values and virtues. These values and learnings evolve and help them make valuable choices and decisions that will help them in their education and their career as this certainly is a valuable life skill in adulthood.

• Perseverance:

Art is not easy, rather it is very challenging. When you try to be a master in one field, you definitely have to strive for the best. You might feel that you are not getting the required result but one should never give up, rather they should keep on trying until they achieve success. After practicing hard, your perseverance will definitely pay off and this process will definitely help you grow and gain new skills.

• Collaboration:

A lot of artistic teams tend to work together so they share responsibilities and compromise and adapt to achieve their goal! Kids learn to contribute and work in a team while sharing responsibilities which in turn will help them be good team leaders as well as individual players.

Accountability

A little similar to collaboration, kids learn to be accountable for their own tasks in a group. They are all accountable for the mess they made or what achievement they had and it is important to take responsibility for both! Mistakes being a part of everyone’s life make people, accept mistakes, fix them, and move forward by learning a lesson from their experiences.

• Improved Cognition
  

Research says that art of every type improves memory; you draw complex and multifaceted endeavor which combine almost all subjects which are all tied to culture and the arts uniquely! They are all valuable not just as stand-alone objects but also as a subject matter which creates a link between the two as well. This correlation can be seen in geometric art!

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• Communication

We say that communication is the most important aspect of our existence and evolution. Through this very process, all underlying emotions come to the core and can be related to art which helps people express themselves in a more concise and crisper format.

For decades and decades, art education has been neglected however with the main focus being given to STEM education, arts take a backseat, despite it being one of the vital components of our education system today and also a much-needed one! with this ever-changing economy of ours, the conventional jobs are going to take a back seat and these creative careers will be our saviors because they help us adapt to the changing times. Putting an A (for arts) in STEM is the need of the hour as it’s an art only that will help children turn into well-rounded individuals ready to face every challenge that they come across!

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Wishing you a creative escape ahead!

#StayRad