My name is Sarah Armendariz and I am a freshman attending the University of San Francisco with a deep concern for the future of our youth. My goal in this letter to you is to capture your attention on the immediate issue regarding art curriculum in schools. While millions of California tax dollars fund athletic and academic necessities, there is hardly an emphasis on art education in the golden state’s schools. This includes music, digital art, painting, photography, etc.

I, myself, am a California taxpayer. Whenever I purchase an item, I pay California sales tax on it. It’s a common misconception that only adults pay taxes and that they are the only ones with necessary voices to be heard, but I am here to inform you that as a voice of the young generation and upcoming flood of federal taxpayers, it is just as important for schools to showcase athletic talent as it is to broadcast the love for art every single student has within them.

The common perception with the arts is that it only serves an emotional purpose, nothing “tangible” and “beneficial” for life after secondary schooling. This way of thinking is extremely biased and wrong. In an article on edutopia.org, a research was conducted to study the connection between the benefit of art education and the development of a child’s mind, which proved that involvement in the arts improves literacy, math, verbal skills.. must I go on?

Sports do not provide the same long-term benefits, other than physical wellness and moderate teamwork skills. In an article published in “Nature”, studies show that when the brain is revealed to music or involvement in visual art, it releases dopamine- a chemical that keeps a human at a moderate to low stress level and risk of heart attack. With the constant bombardment of the rigorous classes and curriculum California offers and the mounting of stress put on the younger generation to excel high enough to get into an Ivy League, exposure to the arts and the calmness and soothingness it brings can provide that necessary balance.

I write this to you because I am well aware of the work put in to creating a spotless college resume. Every year the pressure is applied sooner and sooner for teens to get on a fast track to becoming “college-ready”. Tens of hours every week for four years, countless extra-curriculars, bending over backwards to be the most well-rounded student there is. But where are these individuals going to release this pent up stress? In the poorly maintained physical education requirement? The lousy mandatory “visual arts” class that has no deeper meaning? Over the course of a child’s primary and secondary education, over twelve thousand hours are devoted to powering through the ridiculous Common Core and withstanding the lack of freedom of expression. How many hours of that figure do you think are allotted to children finding who they are and what they are passionate about through art classes tailored to finding talents within every student?

President Barack Obama once said in a captivating speech that “the future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create”. Give deserving kids the essentials to create that vivid imagination that will allow us to excel in school and become stable and successful taxpayers. Not only that Governor Brown, but I guarantee you that with the influence of art education in California schools, young adults today will be the ones who hold the creativity to make advances in technology, medicine, and other fields. We will not only be taxpayers, but the generation that has the imagination and drive to ensure the same educational standards for our children and so on. Invest in us and we will invest in you.