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Public schools should educate the whole child. While the main focus of education should be on the basics: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic as the old song goes, learning is enhanced by the arts. Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that grades 3-12 teach primarily to the left brain. Not all students are left brained. Some students are gifted in right brain skills. Education must be pleasurable for learning to take place. Students who are unsuccessful in left brain activities deserve the chance to engage in some right brain activities. Memory is also enhanced with some down time. While the brain may seem like a funnel, it is really more like a sponge. This means that rest periods are needed to allow synapses to connect to create memory. Art, music, and recess allow this time for assimilation.

Art teaches students spatial relationships and helps students to see the big picture. Art can help students to feel good and have happy thoughts about school. In tough economic times, people need to learn how to make do with less. They need skills to re-purpose or recycle materials; to make simple repairs; or to save money by creating clothing, something pleasing for the home, or even simple games and toys. People need to know how to feel warm, full, or joyous through the use of color. These skills are learned in art classes.

Inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs tend to use both sides of their brains and are considered to be whole brained. If we want the United States to be competitive in the global arena, we must cultivate both sides of the brain.

The purpose for primary and secondary education is to prepare students to enter the work world. Today's workplaces demand more from the worker. One of the ways to combat work stress is to enjoy hobbies. Art can provide a release from stress. If art is eliminated from primary and secondary schools as a cost-cutting measure, the opportunity to access art as a creative outlet or stress reducer is lost forever. Quality of life is enhanced by aesthetics. Who will design communities of the future that are pleasing to the eye if art is eliminated from schools? Does anyone really want to live in a future concrete maze?

Schools should teach the value of diversity and the acceptance of all. This doesn't just mean tolerating different races and religions. If we are to value diversity, we must embrace standard academics and the arts. Art helps to teach the acceptance of different ways of doing things and different ways of thinking.

Learn more about this author, Helena Whyte.
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