“Oh so what are you studying?”
“Theater”
“Oh really? But what will you actually do after college? Will you find a job?”
...Is a conversation we have all either been a part of or overheard in our lives as students. Those who study the arts, that is visual, performance, media or literary, are often looked down upon for their so called “lack of practicality” in their path of education choice. However, some of the most intelligent people have chosen this path and proven that they are not on a lower academic level than those who study, for example, math or science. Students who study the arts are both similar and different to those who study other subjects, but neither have superior intellectual reign over the other.
Arts students are able to think both critically and creatively to create some of the most interesting and challenging works the world has ever seen, just as someone in business or science is able to do too. Arts students are also heavy studiers like other students. Knowledge of editing, acting, playwriting or reading music does not come through natural learning in the early days or education. It is attained from hours of study and practice, just like the anatomy and physiology of the brain is for a neuroscience student. The gift of a beautiful voice in an arts student mirrors the gift of the ability to carry out complex math problems in a mathematics student. Arts students are able to recognize connections in songs or stories just as business students are able to recognize trends in sales for a company.
With all of these similarities in skills and work, how do people still insist that those who study apart from the arts are more intelligent/have more going for them?
One thing that is unique to arts students is their body. It can either be used as a second brain in itself or as an accessory to the brain. Especially for performance students, their bodies seem to recognize musical elements faster than their brain does. They are smart inside and outside of their brain. Arts students have the capability to use their brain and body both cohesively and separately to create some of the best visual and literary works ever seen. This ability allows these students to dive into a whole different perspective of the world. Their world is seen and felt. As said before, their bodies allow this to be the case but their strong connection to and ability to recreate human emotion in their “performances” or “works” allows for this as well.
In all, the availability of jobs does not determine one’s intelligence. A limited number of jobs in the fields of arts may just mean it only takes the best of the best to do them. However, it is still wrong for some to downgrade others just because what they are studying has more jobs than the other. In both cases, someone is still getting an education for their passion. So really, why try to decrease the value of something so great as that for any situation?
Below you can find a list of eight people who have studied the arts and used the skills they learned from them to create very successful careers. They are living proof that intelligence comes in various forms and those who study the arts are not intellectually inferior to those who don’t.
James Franco – UCLA ’08 : Creative Writing / Master of Fine Arts at Columbia University ’10 / New York University ’11 : Filmmaking / Courses in Fiction Writing and Poetry at Brooklyn College and Wilson College / Pursuing PhD in English at Yale University / URI School of Design
Meryl Streep – Vassar College ’71 / Yale University School of Drama ’75 / Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree at Dartmouth College ’81
Ellie Kemper – Princeton ’02 : English / 1 Year at Oxford
Mindy Kaling – Dartmouth ’01 : Playwriting
Bradley Cooper – Georgetown ’97 : English / Master of Fine Arts at The New School ‘00
Conan O’Brien – Harvard University ’85 : History & Literature
John Roger Stephens (John Legend) – University of Pennsylvania ’99 : English
Lupita Nyong’o – Yale University School of Drama ‘12
