How Art Education Effects

American and Other Cultures

Samantha Sampson
Benefits of Art Education

- The United States is school curricula has shifted heavily toward common core
subjects of reading and math, but not the arts regarding it as a luxury.
- Learning to create and appreciate visual aesthetics may be more important
than ever to the development of the next generation of children as they grow
up.
- Most studies on the importance of art education involve both visual arts and
performing arts.
Developmental Benefits of Art Education
- Motor Skills: motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or scribbling with a crayon, are essential
to the growth of fine motor skills in young children. Developmental milestones around age three should include
drawing a circle and beginning to use safety scissors. Around age four, children may be able to draw a square and
begin cutting straight lines with scissors.

- Language Development: for very young children, making art provides opportunities to learn words for colors,
shapes, and actions. By elementary school, students can use descriptive words to discuss their own creations or to
talk about what feelings are elicited when they see different styles of artwork.

- Decision Making: art education strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making
decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over into other parts of life.

- Visual Learning: Drawing, sculpting with clay and threading beads on a string all develop visual-spatial skills, which
are more important than ever.
Developmental Benefits of Art Education
- Inventiveness: kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they
develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives.
- Cultural Awareness: we live in an increasingly diverse society, the images of different groups in
the media may also present mixed messages. Teaching children to recognize the choices an artist
or designer makes in portraying a subject helps kids understand the concept that what they see
may be someones interpretation of reality.
- Improved Academic Performance: Studies show that there is a correlation between art and other
achievement. A report by Americans for the Arts states that young people who participate regularly
in the arts are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a
math and science fair, or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not
participate.
American Studies on Art Education
Two American Studies:(based on data from the 1992 Survey of Public
Participation)

-The information is representative of the United States with respect to age, race,
gender, etc.

-The scales for school-based and community-based arts education represented

the number of art forms in which respondents had lessons while at school through
age 17.
Continued
-The more art education a person had the more they participated in art as an adult
such as drawing, painting, writing composing, etc.

-One exception was art performance; art education and overall education did not
impact acting, playing an instrument, etc.

-BOTH American studies reported positive conclusion on the effects on an art

education and participation in the arts.
One report presented information on the availability and characteristics of arts
education programs of those surveyed, broken down by discipline (music, visual
arts, dance, and theatre).
It indicates that while music and visual art are widely available in some form, six percent of the nations
public elementary schools offer no specific instruction in music, and 17 percent offer no specific
instruction in the visual arts.
Nine percent of public secondary schools reported that they did not offer music, and 11 percent did not
offer the visual arts.
Only three percent offer any specific dance instruction and only four percent offer any specific theatre
instruction in elementary schools. In secondary schools the numbers improve somewhat as 12
percent offer dance and 45 percent offer theatre. Sadly, the study was unable to survey dance and
theatre specialists because the data sample didnt have sufficient contact information in those
disciplines.
Dutch Studies on Art Education
Nagel, Ganzeboom, Haanstra & Oud (1997) studied the effects of art education in
secondary school on the cultural participation of Dutch students 10 to 20 years
after leaving school.
They drew their conclusions from a sample survey among 1034 students from
31 schools, half of whom took visual arts or music as a subject of examination

Art examination subjects are more often chosen by students who were
already active in the arts and who come from culturally active families
Training in the arts during secondary schools was found to add to
participation in cultural activities ten to twenty years later.
Although the effects are restricted to the same art discipline as the art lessons
they attended, so the visual arts program did not influence participation in
musical activities
Researchers concluded that cultural participation in childhood and parental
socialization are more important determinants of later cultural participation
than art education in school
In 1998 a new mandatory subject Arts and Cultural Education has been
implemented in Dutch secondary education
Attendance of cultural activities (exhibitions, films, concerts, theatre
performances etc.) is the core of this subject
Students take these requirements when they are around 16 years old

One of the goals of the new subject is to stimulate the cultural interest and the
cultural activities of the Dutch youth.
In a five year period the researchers collected longitudinal data from about 1900
students at 72 different secondary schools throughout the Netherlands.
The effect of the new subject on the level of cultural consumption is
somewhat trivial, due to cultural consumption forming part of the subject.
No effects on cultural consumption were shown after two years or more.

Out of the control variables, the cultural consumption of the parents turns out
to be the most important: students whose parents actively participated in
cultural activities, participate more in culture.
Compared to previous research, the new Dutch art subject on cultural
participation later in life, prove to be disappointing.
The Importance Of Art Education: Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4UwzRLVpQ
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4UwzRLVpQ

http://blog.americansforthearts.org/2012/04/02/ten-years-later-a-puzzling-picture-o
f-arts-education-in-america

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/29858/11386136021folkert_haanstra.htm/f
olkert_haanstra.htm
http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-importance-of-art-in-child-de
velopment/