In a small town high school in western Pennsylvania, things are a little rocky. A high school art teacher’s position in the school district is in danger. The art teacher, who teaches several upper level art courses, such as 3D Art, AP Art History, Photoshop, and Flash Animation to name a few, is currently one of the teachers that the district’s school board is planning to eliminate from the faculty, in order to “condense the number of art classes” as a result of district budget cuts.
No big deal, this happens to teachers all the time, right? Sure…but the issue at hand is much larger than simply laying off teachers and cutting school funds. The issue is that the teacher whose job is in question is a teacher of the arts. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that in schools all over the United States, the arts are usually the first subject to suffer the consequences of a school district’s budget cuts. Teachers get laid off, and classes begin to disappear from the list of options for students to take during their years in high school. And today, I’m putting my foot down and saying that THIS IS NOT OK ANYMORE.
A short little background about me: I started playing the flute in 4th grade, switched to percussion in 7th grade, participated in band and choir beginning in 4th grade, as well as marching band when that became an option. In college, I was a member of seven different music ensembles, including Percussion Ensemble, Chamber Singers, and the marching band. I perform with Matrix, a world class Independent indoor percussion group. I have been extremely involved in both the performance and technical sides of theatre. I love to dance. And I love creative writing. I have absolutely no gifts in the visual arts side of things (seriously, even my stick figures suck) but I am very appreciative of all kinds of visual arts and have an enormous level of respect for those who are able to create wonderful pieces of visual art.
Given that short personal background, I am obviously a huge supporter of the arts in all forms. I do not view one domain of the arts to be more important than the others. And I’m going to say something a little bit radical here…I also do not view any subject in school to be more important than any other, THE ARTS INCLUDED. Yes. I honestly believe that the arts are just as important than math, science, English, and history. Sure, there are more jobs that require a background in the academic school subjects. Sure, success in the academic subjects determines one’s placement in colleges and future jobs. And sure, intelligence is usually only measured by how much a person knows about the academic subjects. But, we need to stop belittling the arts right now and forevermore. There are plenty of careers that revolve solely around the arts. And the last time I checked, many colleges want to see things beyond just good grades in math. Most postsecondary educational institutions want to see that their potential students were involved in extracurricular activities in high school.
I do not consider myself to be amazing at math, science, or English. Though I excelled in history throughout high school and college, I do not consider history to be my biggest success by any means. Almost every major accomplishment in my life has been related to the arts. Almost every single leadership position that I have held over the years has been related to the arts. Of the four scholarships that I received in high school, three of those scholarships were awarded to me because of success in the arts. I have made so many friends, as well as hundreds of outstanding connections for future networking opportunities through people involved in the arts. Most importantly, the arts gave me, and still continue to give me a reason to wake up every single morning. I have truly discovered who I am, and I credit that completely to my involvement in the arts. I have found a deep passion that I will never give up on in the arts.
With all of that being said, I think it’s time that the people in charge of making decisions about which teachers to lay off and which areas of schools’ curriculum to reduce (and even cut altogether) should take a step back and really think about what they are doing. It’s not just cutting one teacher’s job. It’s not just eliminating one or two art classes due to low numbers of enrollment. It’s time that these people examine just how big of a difference it would make in schools to be art-free. It’s time that these people open their eyes to endless list of benefits that come from being involved in the arts in school. I won’t sit here and post a bunch of statistics about how students in the arts usually score higher on the SATs, or that students in the arts are less likely to experiment with drug use, or that students in the arts have higher rates of graduation than students who are not involved in the arts. We are aware that the arts in schools have outstanding benefits for those involved. SO WHY AM I WRITING THIS ARTICLE?
If people are so aware of these benefits, then why is there an art teacher who is probably sitting at home right now, contemplating his next step in his professional career? Why do people have to advocate to keep the arts in schools?
There’s a big word, advocate. An advocate is “a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.” Without advocates for the arts in schools, I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be today. Without people constantly fighting to keep the arts in schools, I may not have ever had the opportunity to grow as a musician, dancer, actor, designer, or writer. Throughout my time in high school, I constantly heard about schools close to mine that were laying off teachers and cutting certain arts classes. As a student whose life basically centered around the arts, that worried me. I feared that I would not be able to take the classes and ensembles that I loved the most. That’s something that no high school student should have to even think about, let alone actually have to face, as these students in my high school are currently facing.
No students should have to switch around their schedules because the classes that they had originally signed up for have been cut from the curriculum. Students should not be forced to take eight STEM subject classes a day if this is something that they are not interested in. The arts need to remain just as active in schools as any other subject. And for the love of god, I need to stop hearing about how “this one school in *insert any of the 50 states* just let their drama teacher go because they’re eliminating all drama classes from the school’s curriculum,” because this just simply needs to stop happening. The arts should not be a district’s primary target in deciding what teachers and classes to eliminate to save money.
One more time for the people in the back…CUTTING THE ARTS FROM THE SCHOOLS IS NOT OK. And I am officially taking a stand. I am advocating for the elimination of the elimination of arts in the schools, and I hope that you will join me in taking a stand for this monumental causes.
