COVER SHEET TO BE SUBMITTED WITH REPORT

NAME Pradchaya Utsahakijamnuay

STUDENT ID 6161052
UNIT NO 4 DATE SUBMITTED 22 May 2019

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 Unit 4 Research Report

Education and School

Should Art and Music be in the core curriculum?

Pradchaya Utsahakijamnuay (Bell)

1006
Teacher Mr. Matt Allsopp
School Mahidol University International Demonstration School

1
Contents

Introduction 3

Methodology 3

Findings and Discussion 4

Conclusion 5

References 6

Appendix 7

Appendix A 7

Appendix B 8-9

Appendix C 10

Appendix D 11

Appendix E 12

2
Introduction

Art and music have been with humans since ancient times, from the antique

ceremony music to today’s pop songs on the radio. From various studies, Art and Music

have shown to have many positive aspects in the development of humans. However, some

schools are considering these subjects to be luxury subjects, meaning they are not

included in the core curriculum. For that reason, this research will be discussing the

benefits and possible fallbacks of art and music education. I believe Art and music are

beneficial and therefore everybody should be given the opportunity to experience them.

Methodology

Art and music education is a waste of school time. The time wasted should be used

in a more productive education. The previous statements were my initial thoughts on the

topic about a year ago. As of now, one year later, a lot has happened and I can proudly

say that my previous statements could not be more wrong. So what had changed? In the

year 2018, I was given an opportunity to play instruments in an orchestra ensemble for

the first time. I enjoyed it very much. It was a different and new experience. Looking back,

I believe my prejudice towards Art and Music education was mainly from the lack of

opportunity and the right push to do art or play music. For that, I am very grateful for the

people who had given me the chances and I hope to give a chance to other people as well.

This research will be looking at the opinions of people from different educational levels,

but mostly aiming at students in high school (Appendix A). The results are collected via

online surveys that are shared from friends to friends and to their family. The surveys are

addressing questions regarding personal opinions of the individual, for example, his/her

opinion on the Art and Music education he/she has received, lacking, sufficient, or

excessive? (Appendix B) The research will be looking at the advantages and the

disadvantages of Art and Music education from other research papers, to determine the

likeliness of whether Art and Music education should be in the core curriculum.

Finding and Discussion

3
 This section will be tackling the benefits and possible fallbacks of Art and Music

education, and how the data collected correspond to my claim that Art and Music should

be in the core curriculum. First, according to research from the Brown Center Chalkboard,

the students in the U.S. have been receiving less time to explore Arts in a classroom

environment comparing to 10 years prior (Kisida & Bowen, 2019). If this subject is ignored,

there might not be Art and Music in schools’ future. An article from the European

Commission wrote:

...It also offers priceless transferable skills which can be used throughout an

individual’s career and professional development. Aside from the obvious team-

work and perseverance skills, music-making involves problem-solving, and

develops attention to detail and analysis, all of which are essential in professional

life. (Stoddart & Crosier, 2018)

I believe these qualities and skills are essential aspects of being human. However, the

article titled The Problems with Teaching Music is our School by Dr.Alexander Crooke

(2017) has excellently stated the limitations. The expenses and quality of the supplies,

educators, and the maintenance cost could be high. These problems were well

acknowledged. Out of 22 candidates, 13 said their Art and Music education was lacking,

while 8 others thought it was appropriate (Appendix C). When asked to elaborate on their

previous answer, the previously stated problems reappeared with some insightful

comments (Appendix D). In the end, most of the candidates agreed that Art and Music

education should be part of the core curriculum. Only 5 people disagreed (Appendix E). In

conclusion, many people were not satisfied, and they would like to be given more

opportunities to explore these subjects, which is the reason I started this research in the

first place.

4
Conclusion

Most people agreed that Art and Music are a part of a well-rounded education, for

the benefits that they provide the learners. Yet, due to certain limitations, some people

are not as fortunate as others. However, individually we cannot change how things work.

Together, we can spread awareness and come up with better solutions, to provide the best

opportunity for everyone.

5
References

Stoddart, L. and Crosier, D. (2018). Focus on: Do we need music education in schools?.
Retrieved from https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/focus -do-we-
need-music-education-schools_en

Kisida, B. and Bowen, D. H. (2019). New evidence of the benefits of arts education.
Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/02/12/new-
evi dence-of-the-benefits-of-arts-education/

Cohen, R. I. (2016). The American Public Says YES to Arts Education!. Retrieved from
https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2016/03/05/the-american-public-says-yes-to-arts-e
ducation

Bowen, D. H. and Kisida, B. (2019). Investigating Casual Effects of Arts Education

Experiences: Experimental Evidence from Houston’s Arts Access Initiative. [PDF file].
Retrieved from
https://kinder.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs1676/f/documents/Investigating%20Causal%20Effects
%20of%20Arts%20Education%20Experiences%20Final_0.pdf

Crooke, A. (2017). The trouble with teaching music in our schools. Retrieved from
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-trouble-with-teaching-music-in-our-schools

6
Appendices

Appendix A - Candidates of different education level

7
Appendix B - Survey questions

8
9
Appendix C - Results of “What do you think of your current

Art and Music education?”

10
Appendix D - Responses to “Do you think you were given the

best opportunity at Art and Music education?”

11
Appendix E - Result of “Do you think Art and Music education

should be a core subject?”

12