Why the arts are vital
By Marilyn Cristofori
You may wonder why the arts are so important when children have so much to learn. The answer is simple: The arts are fundamental to all learning from the very earliest stages.
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Research in brain development has shown that early experiences rich with aesthetic value have an impact on the lifelong structure of the brain.
Teacher Helen Hew-Len sings "Hawai'i's Children for Peace" with Manoa students. The arts, among the core subjects under the No Child Left Behind Act, offer aesthetic experience that endure past childhood learning. But the schools are focusing on language skills and math instead.
The arts are named among the core academic subjects under the federal law known as No Child Left Behind. Yet, schools have focused almost exclusively on language arts, reading and mathematics. And at the same time, Hawai'i and other states have reduced their education budgets.
Teachers are overburdened because of administrative demands, lack of time and lack of preparation. Yet they are still expected to deliver every subject.
Parents can help. As their children's primary teachers, parents can have a great impact on schools by communicating with teachers and principals and asking if they know about ARTS First.
ARTS First promotes the arts as central to educating the whole child. Research shows time and again that those who study the arts outperform those who do not by virtually every measure, from grades and test scores, to attitudes about learning, regardless of economic status.
ARTS First is a six-year strategic plan for arts education developed by a partnership that includes the state Department of Education, the Hawai'i Association of Independent Schools, the Hawai'i Alliance for Arts Education, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's College of Arts & Humanities and College of Education.
The first step that parents can take to address the challenge of accountability is to ask how children are being prepared to meet the fine arts standards. Part of this challenge is the fact that many elementary teachers have little or no training in the arts.
With budget cuts, there will not be enough money to place arts specialists in every classroom or even in every school. As part of its strategic plan, ARTS First has developed the Essential ARTS
Tool Kit to guide these teachers in helping students achieve the standards in fine arts.
In addition, the Hawai'i Learning Interchange is a dynamic and cost-effective complement to the tool kit. The Learning Interchange also provides a tool that parents can use to supplement arts learning at home.
The Hawai'i site, apple.com/ali/hawaii, is an affiliate of the Apple Learning Interchange.
Technology is important to the children we are educating. Those born between 1982 and 2000 — called the "Millennials" — have never known a world without technology. They are hypercommunicators and are not responding to classroom environments that we once knew.
A startling projection by the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that 80 percent of the jobs that will be available by 2013 do not now exist. How can we prepare our children if we do not teach them adaptability, creativity, problem solving, cultural understanding, collaboration and keen observation skills — all parts of arts education?
It will be insufficient to just raise test scores if we expect today's children to be prepared for their modern world. Students need to discover the joy of learning to remain alert, inquiring, active, and to be able to sustain achievement.
Arts education is essential to preparing our children for academic achievement today and for cultivating qualities they will need to succeed in the future.
Marilyn Cristofori is executive director of the Hawai'i Alliance for Arts Education. This is excerpted from a keynote presentation she gave at the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network's annual leadership meeting in July in Washington.
