Rough Draft of Essay

Note: The draft ended up shorter than I expected/wanted it to. Please leave suggestions on where I should expand or explain more. Also, let me know if my arguments don’t make sense or need to be strengthened.

Expectations for school systems are constantly changing to suit the needs of society. Everyone wants students to come into the ‘real’ world prepared to get a job and make a positive impact on society. Unfortunately, there is much argument over which programs actually achieve these goals and should therefore be emphasized. Many people believe that only CORE subjects, such as math, science, and English classes, are valuable for this purpose. For this reason, many schools feel forced to cut arts programs when they are struggling financially. Arts programs are vital for developing well-rounded students and members of society and should be kept in schools.

There is a large concern about the job prospects of students that major in arts programs. A widely held belief is that students that spend a lot of their time in arts programs, or even major in arts programs, cannot find jobs once they are out of school. While it may be true that not everyone graduating with a degree in the arts can become a professional artist or actor, the programs have other benefits. They allow students to develop their communication, time-management, and critical thinking, among many other skills, which are highly marketable in many fields (Urciuoli, 2003).  Communication and writing skills are especially important in many areas. Programs that teach these “not only help in landing an entry-level job but also provide workers with useful and attractive skills that make them more competitive for future promotional opportunities” (Nutting, 2013). So, although the programs themselves may not lead directly to a fine arts related field, they are still useful to students after graduation. Many people may argue that developing these skills is not enough, and that it is better to focus studies on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes because they are highly marketable by themselves. These programs are considered very valuable in our society and jobs in these fields are easy to find. However, on their own the skills developed by STEM classes are not enough to succeed. Many employers find that their STEM graduates don’t have the communication and creative thinking skills to do more critical thinking and work (Archer, 2008). The very skills that these employees are lacking are the skills arts programs are excellent at developing. No matter what major or area of focus a student desires, arts classes are beneficial to both obtaining a job and thriving.

It is well known that STEM classes are important, especially in today’s increasingly technology-based world. Not enough students go into these fields for a variety of reasons, though. One reason for cutting arts classes is because many people believe they distract students from science and math classes. This is a ridiculous claim, however, as the arts develop skills that aid students in both understanding and practicing STEM concepts, as well as allowing students to connect to science classes in new ways (Hegedus, 2016). By introducing science in a new light, teachers may be able to attract more students to that field, something desperately needed as technology and science continue to explode. The common core standards are used to determine what students should learn in schools in the United States, although school systems anywhere all have their own set of standards. Considering the push for STEM classes, one might get the impression that the common core standards only require skills actively developed in math and science based courses. On the contrary, according to the standards, students should develop higher levels of thinking and comprehension, skills that art and visual mediums are very useful for developing (Franco, 2014). Once again, the benefits of arts programs are shown to be essential to students. So, not only may more students be attracted to STEM classes when they are connected to arts, these students will have a greater understanding of the material and critical thinking skills when they go out into the workforce. In another sense, arts programs may in fact distract students from STEM classes, but in a way that is beneficial to health. A study of the effect of theatre-based activities on medical students found that the activities “helped to create an engaged, more relaxed learning environment in which students were able to be present to each other and open to learning” and students thought the activities were “good stress relief” (Nagji, 2013). Stress is very unhealthy, and the constant pressure from higher level courses makes it almost inevitable for students to avoid it. Stress negatively effects the body and mind, making learning even more difficult, which in turn creates more stress and continues an awful cycle of stress and not learning. If arts programs can alleviate stress and even allow students to learn more efficiently, then they are surely valuable. Stress and a lack of understanding or interest in STEM classes can be combated by arts programs, therefore, anyone who is truly interested in promoting STEM classes should also promote arts classes.

For some reason, even in a society incredibly based on innovation and creativity, there is a widespread idea that arts programs are frivolous and essentially useless to students. Many people, including students, believe that they either will not learn anything from arts classes or will learn useless information. A study performed at Franklin University found that when juvenile offenders participated in creating and selling art pieces for charity, the project positively impacted how they viewed themselves and were viewed by their community, as well as their team work skills and their stress levels. What those who do not see the value in arts programs do not realize is that, although they are not learning the same type of information in the same way they learn in STEM or CORE subjects, they are still learning skills that may help them in other classes and after they graduate. Not only this, but arts programs teach students life skills. Obviously, any skill that benefits students in other classes will help them in a future job, but it can also help them in other areas of life. Increased self-esteem, for example, will help with class presentations and motivate students to do better since they know they are capable of it. It will also be beneficial when working with others and presenting to coworkers and business partners at a job. A higher self-esteem is also important to maintaining a healthy physical and mental state in general. Arts programs develop many beneficial skills and traits like this in students. One study of middle schoolers being given a chance to work together on a creative art-based project led to the researcher finding that students naturally began to show a newfound empathy for others, supposedly because the students opinions were being listened to and used in the classroom and “it is through being heard that students become open to hearing each other” (Bradshaw, 2016). When students are not only taught how to think more critically but allowed to use and further develop this skill and their own ideas, they begin to become more aware of themselves and how their actions relate to others. The skills that are most necessary for higher level classes and jobs later in life are the same skills that are necessary in an understanding and positive society. Anyone that claims that arts programs do not teach students useful skills or information is looking only at what exactly the student is doing-creating art instead of learning scientific or mathematical concepts- and not why they are doing it or how it is truly effecting them. One could say these people are not using critical thinking skills to see past the basic picture.

Arts programs have lifelong benefits to students and need to stay in schools. Those that are concerned about students taking too many arts classes should be more concerned about students that refuse to take art classes. These programs teach critical thinking skills that employers desire and that society needs, skills that STEM classes alone have not been found to develop. It is true STEM classes are very important, but arts classes are not useless. They promote skills and traits that benefit society and create well-rounded students that will grow into well-rounded members of society. Cutting arts programs hurts more than just art students, it hurts the future of every student and the future of the world.

One thought on “Rough Draft of Essay

  1. I don’t see any issues with this except for the length which you had already mentioned. I think there was some controversy about the common core curriculum you might want to look into. For me personally, I would wonder how exactly art programs facilitate these skills or benefits. If you have anything about how or which aspects specifically affect these changes.

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