School Board Saves Its Arts Program by Establishing it as 'Core Curriculum'
Arts education hasn't historically been valued as a "must-have" in nationwide school districts. In fact, it's often one of the most popular cuts to be made when cash-strapped states want to decrease spending. That's because painting, music, and theater are generally considered “extras” or entertaining complements to education, but not core subjects. That view is shifting as educators open up to the idea that learning art-related subjects makes kids better academically as well as personally.
One school district willing to stake its reputation on that is Los Angeles Unified, which this week unanimously voted to protect its arts education program by categorizing it as a core curriculum. It also enacted addendum measures protecting the program from future budgetary cuts, KPCC reports.
According to the news agency, the district's arts program had been all but annihilated after $1.5 billion in cuts to its operating budget. LA Unified lost that money in just over three years as California legislators slashed education budgets across the board due to the down economy.
But this recent measure to protect the arts in L.A. schools received some vocal support from celebrities, including Cheech Marin. Not exactly the poster boy for staying in school, (or for staying off drugs for that matter) the former star of the Cheech & Chong franchise urged board members to pass the measure for the sake of California's future. “We as a culture, art is the only thing we leave behind. For the life of me, I can't think of a museum dedicated to the great business deals of the past, but 2,000 years later people go see the pyramids, the 'Mona Lisa,' the Eiffel Tower, and Picasso's 'Guernica.'"
Protecting the arts program may be considered controversial in light of what will probably be more state budgetary cuts by the end of this year. According to the Associated Press, those include shortening California's school year even further, down to 160 days, tying with Colorado for the shortest school year nationwide.
It begs the question, what would be more beneficial- a longer school year, or a shorter school year with arts education intact? Organizations like Edutopia have been at the forefront of encouraging more arts education in schools and has found through its own research that children tend to do better academically the more exposed to art they are. Art education supporters would also say that according to a study from the University of Illinois at Chicago, people with an appreciation for the arts tend to more frequently demonstrate traits like altruism, social tolerance, and civic-mindedness.
If your state was facing budgetary cutbacks, would you be for or against arts education getting the axe? Let us know in the Comments.
Related Stories on TakePart:
• City of Angels Ballet Teaches Untapped Talent
• No Excuses Charter School Shakes Up Nashville
• The World is Moving Forward, But American Education is Stagnant
A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer. In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a web editor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com
