Art Education Matters

"I believe arts education is critical for young people. Already there is a pall over the school environment without a regular art curriculum especially at the elementary level. The schools, being heavy on left brain academics, bereft of joy, a sense of wonder, beauty, and most importantly creativity, are boring the student population and teacher population alike.
The emphasis is on passing academic tests in math, reading and science. There is no time or money for the arts, in fact they are considered unimportant. What is the goal of our education system? I always thought it was to educate human beings to be fully functioning, well-rounded adult members of our society. By the time a person graduates from high school they have some idea of a direction to further pursue in life.
In my opinion as a former student, as a parent, and as an educator, we are narrowing the process down, NOT encouraging creativity, and actually dumbing down our members of society without access to learning about the arts. The arts  - Creativity, Imagination, Problem Solving, a Sense of Achievement - should be the hub of the wheel of learning and education. The spokes of the wheel are science, math, reading and history and other topics that can be measured. Without the inquiring, experimental mind required of an artist, we will have random spokes difficult to use. An entire segment of industry will be short of skilled designers, inventors, visionaries, people able to visualize, draw, plan, and think creatively.
Whether it be making art, viewing, or communicating through the visual arts, the part of the mind used in the arts is being under utilized in our schools without art in the classroom. Art is not just fluff, it is an important academic subject and should be considered essential. Educating humans to think like an artist, a problem solver, a creator, is an important mission."