Picture yourself singing your favorite song, or drawing a picture that is coming out extremely well, or performing on stage or even sculpting. Do you enjoy participating in these activities that you love so much? Well too bad. In the last few years, legislation has been composed and passed to reduce funding that goes to art programs across the United States. It has become prominent, in the minds of committees in charge of funding programs within school districts, that art programs are not a necessity within school districts, but they are. These committees believe that there are more important activities and subjects that deserve a larger sum of money than the arts With doing so, they give the money that should be providing the arts with …show more content…
substantial amount of funding, to other programs regarding more “academic” subjects which is wrong because the arts are equally as important and academic. Why are we just sitting around waiting for these atrocities within the art programs to resolve? We need to take action in resolving the problems and belligerent attacks regarding accurate funding for the arts. Corporations and schools are discussing and passing bills and legislature to promote the reduction of funding for the arts.
From Conservative Republicans cutting the money they will put forth for funding of the arts, which in return will call for a reduction in federal funding of the arts. “They are forecasting that this erasure of cultural funding would reduce federal spending by $2.5 trillion over the next decade”(Huffington 1). This prediction shows that more children within school will feel the effects of the reduction in federal funding, which makes them less inclined to go to school. “Republican Study Committee has concerned the arts as a less valued endowment. And this is not the first time that arts endowments have had to fight to keep afloat” (Huffington 1). In the past, the art programs have seen a hit in their federal funding in which they had to fight in order to withstand the repression, now this is arising again, meaning the art programs have to fight even more to endure this current hit in their funding. In addition, “The effects on the arts and humanities nationwide would depend in large part on the extent to which other sources of funding. Additionally, subsidized projects and organizations in …show more content…
rural or low-income areas might find it especially difficult to garner increased private backing or sponsorship”(Reduce 2). Which creates hardships within poor school districts that can’t raise enough money to create even a miniscule amount of art education classes, in return, this makes students unable to gain skills and knowledge derived from these art classes. For example, some colleges like Grand Valley State University, are cutting funding for art programs but are advocating for art programs that encompass the entire student body like Rock Against Rape, a concert raising money to contribute to teach students the effects of rape and how to prevent it from occurring more frequently (Hodge 1). Some people are even seeking out new ways to fund art programs or self taught art programs (Peppler 1) Also, “ Even though some federal departments feel the need to cut these programs even more, “feedback from employers is not only about the necessity of technical skills, but soft skills as well - the ability to think creatively, to work in groups, things that you traditionally get in the liberal arts”(Cohen 5). Even employers are looking for people that possess skills that only can be acquired while taking a class or group of classes that incorporate the arts. “Education in the arts is an integral part of the development of each human being”(Bryant 1).
“Education and engagement in the fine arts are an essential part of the school curriculum and an important program of every student and sufficient data exists to overwhelming support of belief that study and participation in the fine arts is a key common throughout all academic areas. ”(Bryant 1) This provides federal corporations with information and data on how essential the art programs are in a school education. These federal corporations that fund the arts don’t comprehend or acknowledge the beneficial qualities that students gain while being enrolled in art education classes. These beneficial qualities outweigh the disadvantages of art education, which there seem to be none. “The arts enhance the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are, in fact, the driving forces behind all other learning”(Bryant 1), which in fact enhance students learning abilities, all around, not just in music or art, but, math, science, technology even, physical education. There are indeed specific benefits that art education classes can have on each and every student, they include “reaching students that are not normally reached, in ways and methods not normally used, changes the learning environment, students connect to each other better, provides challenges to students of all levels, and students learn to become
sustained, self-directed learners”(Bryant 1-2). These benefits lead to a smaller amount of student dropouts, re-ignites the love of learning within students, results in fewer fights, enhanced knowledge about diversity and seeks to extend higher levels of proficiency. In addition, “A recent study of high schoolers revealed a correlation between arts education and math and writing test scores. These high school students were tracked for three years and were required to take a minimum one credit of art education. Students who took more than the minimum requirement were 1.5 times more likely to meet or exceed the ACT Plan national average composite score. These students excelled in statewide tests, earning proficient levels in math, reading, and writing”(Velasco 2). Students taking an art class can and do exceed expectations put in place by the government and higher governing bodies, which people complain are unreachable but, with art education these standards are met and exceeded. While a lot of corporations are striving to cut down funding through the federal government of the United States Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts has maintained a consistent connection with arts education in the public schools over the last 10 years. This has occurred in part through targeted funding for programs- often involving partnerships between schools and community organizations; professional development for teachers and teaching artists; research and evaluation (Rupert 3). In addition to the overview of the art curriculum, music education directly contributes to creating beneficial members of society that contribute their learned attributes to everyone. Like learning to read music and understand concepts such as, time, rhythm, and pitch have direct effect on a child’s ability to comprehend math skills. “One study showed math scores of music students surpassed those of their non-musical classmates. Students from low socio-economic backgrounds were twice as likely to excel in math if they had musical education” (Velasco 2). Also, studying the lyrics of music can teach students about syllabification, phonics, vocabulary, imagery, history, myths, folktales, geography and culture. Studies also show there is a direct correlation involvement in theater and success in math and reading. Non-native English speakers may learn and comprehend the language quicker with the use of music. Thematic learning helps children learn in a safe, enjoyable, student-centered environment. Furthermore, students who take time to master a musical instrument learn about hard work, discipline and practice. While performing in a group- like an orchestra, band, or choir- students learn to work together, appreciate teamwork, strive for a common goal, and develop negotiation skills. When combining all these attributes, a skillful and developed student becomes the outcome. So who needs art? Who needs music? Who needs theatre? Who needs dance? The answer is everyone, everyone can gain knowledge and benefits from these great programs that are exciting and yet educational. “We need to offer more in-depth learning the most: order, integrity, thinking skills, a sense of wonder, truth, flexibility, fairness, dignity, contribution, justice, and creative arts provide all of these”(Bryant 2). In the corporate world today, people need to realize that everyone needs access to art education because it gives us depth within human intelligence. There is a universal need for words, music, dance and visual arts to give expression to the human spirit. Keep in mind, everyone needs art, so why not fight for what is a necessity of human intelligence?
Our Preamble lists five main goals that are required to help create a strong and stable society within our country. However, money is required in order to achieve these goals. We get this money from the Federal Budget which is the yearly amount we receive in order to better our country. The question here is, are we slicing the pie correctly in relation to the federal budget? In each of three budget clusters, the U.S Government should make adjustments in the way it is distributing money by making changes involving the Big Five, the Middle Five, and the Little Guys.
Federal spending is necessary for the economy and is essential to the accomplishment of national goals and advancement. This is why a budget is needed, however, there is no actual process mentioned in the Constitution that explains how Congress should do this. The Constitution states:
Federal laws and regulations requiring specific action from state and local governments without providing federal funding to pay for it are called “ unfounded mandates.”
Turbide, Anne F. "Why Art Programs Are Beneficial to Students." The Synapse. N.p., 15 May 2015. Web. 10 May 2016.
Many schools around the country are cutting their music program because of budget cuts in their counties. The arts for some reason are always the first to be cut; apparently the school doesn’t think they are essential to their students learning. Schools try to focus on the more important academic classes because of the high testing standards they must now meet. (Nesoff 2003) This is not just happening in poor school districts it is happening in large districts across the country including magnet schools for the arts: “When Albert Margolis and his wife attended the final music program for their son's kindergarten class in May, they were shocked when a teacher stood up after the performance and announced that the music program was cut indefinitely…Bathgate Elementary School in Mission Viejo in California's affluent Orange County, is a magnet school for the arts…” (Nesoff 2003) When magnet schools for the arts start cutting music you know there is a problem. The problem is the schools do not know the importance of music and the arts and how necessary they are for children to grow and become cultured in our society.
A recent development in public education has been the decline in arts programs nationwide. Budget cuts to arts programs are responsive to decreases in state funding, especially in states with conservative economic policies. Many states have also enacted legislation disabling local school districts’ abilities to justify employing art and music teachers. Consequently, several problems have manifested themselves, including the loss of arts programs proving detrimental to the overall quality of education for today’s children. First and foremost, arts programs improve overall performance in core school subjects; this is demonstrated clearly through higher test scores amongst students with exposure to arts and positive correlations between arts and core class engagement. Other reasons supporting retaining arts programs include to help foster community development, produce creative minds, develop problem-solving skills, aid in child development and visual-spatial skills, and encourage underprivileged students to remain in school (Metla, 2015). By removing arts programs from some public schools, an alarming issue of public concern arises. Public education, given that it is considered to be a non-rivalrous and non-excludable, is deemed a public good (Clark, 2016). Cutting arts programs in public schools, especially when cuts transpire in schools saturated with heavy minority populations, creates inequitable education and creates a serious issue of public concern.
In these current economic times, people have lost jobs. People have lost faith in the economy since the worth of their money keeps falling. Businesses are failing left and right because of the lack of confidence in the system. Banks have folded because of the amount of people who are unable to pay their loans, leaving the banks without funds. The auto industry is failing as people cannot afford the new cars being produced by Detroit. Confidence in the economic system of the United States is very low. How can the country recover from this economic recession? Some economists would say that the government should step in to save the day by pumping funds into the system. President Obama signed a massive stimulus bill in an attempt to turn the economy around. The question is, was this bill actually useful, or is it just a waste of the US taxpayer’s hard earned dollars? Did the economy turn around because of the bill, or would it have recovered just fine on its own? Finally, are the provisions in the bill actually good for the public at large, or is it just a waste of tax dollars on pork barrel spending projects and agendas? These are questions that must be answered to get to the heart of one of the most expensive legislative actions in the history of the United States.
The U.S budget deficit over the years has been a problem but lately the deficit has shrunk. However, what made the U.S budget deficit get to where it is today and what will it be like in the years to come. Throughout the past the U.S has operated under a deficit. This means that the U.S Spent more money than it was taking in. The cause of the excess in spending was different depending on which year. Some of the causes were war, increase in spending , and economic downturns. There were different acts passed to try and control the deficit problem. The deficit at the present time is declining. This decline is due to the improving economy, sequester, and a tax increase on high-income households. The big factor that went into the decline in the deficit for 2013 was the payment that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made. The deficit decline in the present time may make some think the U.S could get out of debt but it has been projected that the U.S deficit will start to increase once again.
Many schools consider art, music, and physical education programs ‘fluff’ classes, which is why when schools are looking for a place to save money those are some of the programs that are first to go. Claire Suggs, Senior Education Policy Analysts for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, found that “about 42 percent of districts are reducing or eliminating art or music programs and 62 percent are eliminating elective courses” (“Cutting Class” #1). Art and music programs should not be cut because they allow students to explore their creativity and improve problem solving skills. On the
During president Obama’s first term presidency, he created the bipartisan national commission on the fiscal responsibility and reform to address out nations fiscal challenges. The duty of the commission is to identify policies that will improve the fiscal situation in short term and sustaining it over long run.
Much too often in America today, modern music and art programs in schools are perceived to many as extracurricular activities rather than important subjects that are vital to a students learning and skill development. The truth of the matter is that encouraging music and art education in public schools has a much larger impact on student’s grades, academic performance, and the economy than the majority people realize. Within the next year city school budgets will be dropping by twenty five percent, and despite the fact that music and art programs have been showing a dramatic contribution to student’s learning, this substantial drop in funding for the programs will lead to no dedicated money for art or music programs (Mezzacappa). There is no doubt that a cut in funding for art programs will take a huge toll on students overall grades and test scores. Research has found that the studying of music and art facilitates learning in other subjects and enhances children’s skills in other areas (Brown). Furthermore, providing students with a creative outlet can do great justice in reducing the stress from many other classes and even offer insight for students in possible career paths involving the art field. The art industry today currently supports 4.1 million full-time jobs (Dorfman). By increasing the funding of music and art programs for students preschool through twelfth grade we can see a dramatic increase in the education of children across the United States, assist with skill development in young students, and greatly benefit the economy at the same time.
Unintended consequences often have a more profound outcome than the planned changes that the thing should make. This is why it is important to understand them and possibly even predict them. The topic that I will be looking at is the The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed into law in 1956 and allowed for the construction of over 65,000km more of highway to help lower traffic. It was modeled after the highway system that the Germans had during WWII.
In the article “Budget Cuts Multiply Students Debt” Bruce Parsons state that the budget cuts problems are not only in the tuition increase. Parsons argues that because of the budget cuts that it is hard to keep up with class work. He states that the students are to download everything and absorb the cost of printing themselves. Which adds to the cost of being a student. Parsons says that higher education has become more about profit than about learning. In conclusion Parsons states that what many people forget is that everyone is not luck and fortunate as others.
In today’s society anything can be considered “Art”. From the great sounds of a symphony, to the architecture of a modern structure, or even an elephant painting with its trunk, art is what the viewer perceives it to be. Individuals will always agree or disagree with the message behind a certain piece of art, as pieces can be offensive to some, but beautiful to others. Some argue that funding the arts in school is a waste of money, time, or a combination of both, but the benefits outweigh the negatives by far, due to a variety of reasons.
Jane Alexander, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), once said, “Many children are missing out on something which gives their education context, gives their lives depth and meaning, and prepares them to be the future workforce.” This “something” that she spoke of is music and art education. Unfortunately, she is entirely correct. We are currently seeing in our country a dramatic cut in arts education curriculum in our public schools due to the limited amount of both time and funding. In many cases budget cutbacks mean arts education cutbacks. This limited amount of resources often forces administrators to place a value on the various subject areas. There is always a demand for greater concentration upon the traditional basics: English, math, science, and history. There is also a new focus on computer competency and a renewed focus on the need for foreign language education. Add to this health education, family life education, industrial arts education, AIDS education, home economics, physical education, and business education and one begins to wonder where arts education fits in.