Art and Our Children

I don’t know much about education and our schools. I am the first to admit it. But there are three immutable laws of education that other experts have come up with that I believe to be true. They are:

1. The bigger the school district, the worse the school board
2. The worse the school board, the worse the education that our children receive
3. When money is tight, the first thing usually to be cut is the arts department

Well, I am going to add a fourth rule:

4. When the arts are cut out of school curriculum, our children suffer in ways you can’t imagine.

Recent studies done by the Arts Education Partnership have documented that students with high levels of arts participation outperform "arts-poor" students in virtually every important measure. Why? Because the arts give students new ways to think and problem-solve. It gives them stronger cognitive skills, which are used to master other subjects like reading, writing and mathematics.

In this knowledge-based world, integrating arts into the educational process has never been more important. I invite you to read this very important article recently published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Go to:

http://www.corkrum.com/blogs/Arts%20essential%20to%20learning.htm