Defending the Fine Arts

Last week's student newspaper contained an opinion article written by a student (who shall remain nameless) about where spending cuts for the school ought to occur. "To me," said the student, "the choice is obvious. The fine arts and physical education departments of high schools in America. . ." The fine arts department desperatley needs funding to provide music, instruments, art materials and other benefits for students engaged in art, choir, band, orchestra, and theater. The student went on to say "listening to works of Mozart and understanding how they work isn't an essential lifeskill. . ." Well, neither is learning how to write a newspaper editorial, and yet the school newspaper hasn't come under fire. Classes like the fine arts enrich student's lives and provide a broader base to their education, just as  the school newspaper, engineering program, and other non-"core academic" classes do. No subject is "better" than the other, but all help to enrich student's lives. Imagine a world in which you never learned to appreciate good music (not the autotuned drivel on the radio), or learned to express your creativity through paint or drawing or clay. A world where Shakespeare was never understood and enjoyed as a performance, where Shostakovich's symphony no. 5 fell on deaf ears in favor of Ke$ha. Think of how much our nation would suffer if students did not learn the fundamentals of the arts. There is not, and has never been a civilization that did not have music and art of some kind. It is an integral part of humanity's development. To cut it from our schools would be to cut a part of our culture, history, and numerous opportunities for growth and learning.Many students find their calling in the fine arts program and go on to become music teachers or performers, actors and actresses, crew/lighting/set designers, and other kinds of artists, contributing to their respecitve disciplines. If fine arts was not offered in schools, students may not realize these options are available to them. In the author's own words, "as spending cuts become more and more necessary, people have to start considering what's truly important." The fine arts fit the bill.