Reyne Martinez
Art and the Way it Benefits our Children
The term “budget-crisis” is wielded often as a hacksaw. Schools are expected to perform in their standardized tests. The competition in America to be the best and smartest in the world is not doable for every city in America. Not every student has the same access to exponential learning or resources. These scores are then pitted against every school district’s budget.
Whoever leaves the season of testing as the loser – loses even more. While money is poured into academic progress within Math and English – the other subjects become lean.
Within public school systems – school officials are told to cut away the fat of extra-curriculum activities. Music, art, computer science, specialized sports programs – these are the first to go. And when these programs are cut, teachers are let go, districts are provided with fewer opportunities and schools end up suffering within their budget more than before.
We cannot diminish the importance of an education where Maths and English are at the forefront. However, we also cannot ignore the impact these exposures to other programs have on kids in our communities.
Kids without access to art, music, science, and sports they might succeed in – ballet, skating, badminton, hockey – are expected to pick up what is around them and go along with it. What happens when a kid tries to do well in basketball but finds the sport does not fit them? The student may leave that court feeling defeated. Their options are limited, there are no other teams to join aside from football, but they are far too small to play. So, the child decides that sports are not for them. Little do they know that they have an affinity for tennis, or golf, or swimming. As far as their minds are concerned – they do not have what it takes to do well in school-organized sports.
And – it is not as if their parents or legal guardians would readily have the money to sign them up in a program outside of the school. So, the kid hangs their jersey, and they move on – never to pick up another sport where they can showcase their natural talents. Without access to these recreational activities, they cannot regulate their body, health, or gain a sense of community. Being a part of a team or with a coach that believes in their ability can greatly affect their self-esteem. Their involvement with other players would improve their communication skills. The ability they have to accept criticism and grow through hardship is undermined by low funding, and lack of access. So, the kid has to move on and find that acceptance elsewhere. Or they are impacted for years after with that lack of growth and opportunity for evolution.
This same outlook can be turned onto the arts and music end.
Through studies, it has been shown that Art programs are often linked to higher GPA and SAT scores.
Art shows students how to open themselves up to:
- Critique
- Problem Solving
- Open Communication amongst Peers
A study conducted in 2013 at the University of Maryland showed that schools with strong Art programs showed fewer dropout and suspension rates. In fact – the rate at which students would graduate was five times more than the dropout rate. Not only that it also proved how much more engaged students were with their classmates and community when given access to Arts and Music programs.
Under the Obama Administration over a million dollars was poured into the worst eight schools of that nation. These schools’ art programs were bolstered in an attempt to see how that would change the lives of students. The results were dramatic – and effective. Students have talked about their improved grades – but more importantly – their improved lives. “Studying the arts promotes academic self-efficacy and school engagement and it enhances socioemotional skills valued in social relationships, the workplace, and education settings. with low socioeconomic status who were deeply engaged in the arts demonstrated better academic outcomes than students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds who had fewer arts involvement.” – A quote from The Arts and Dropout Prevention: The Power of Art to Engage by Kimberly Brown.
Schools located in California did their own studies to show how these improved Arts programs impacted their communities. 24 historically marginalized schools harnessed the arts for transformation. In every case, they have been inspired by the changes they were tracking. Young people who might have fallen through the cracks academically or socially find their voices and make themselves heard. Parents reported that arts programs made schools feel tighter knit and more inclusive. Teachers say the arts help them connect across disciplines—bringing music into math class, sculpture into social studies, drawing into science, and more. Ninety-eight percent of teachers in the partner schools reported that the arts had a positive or very positive impact on their students during the challenging pandemic year.
The proven effects that art and music have on the brain of children are:
1. Music Boosts Young Brains
Immersing children in music can help boost their brainpower. English is a helpful, useful language. But not every kid knows how to verbally communicate what they feel or need right away. It takes time. And in the meanwhile, they can take up a new instrument – a new tool, that might not look the same in the school system. However, it provides them with the voice they need.
Music stimulates the parts of the brain associated with academic achievement, such as reading and math, and emotional development. Instead of viewing music as an extracurricular activity, consider it an overall part of your child’s education.
2. Art Improves Academic Achievement
Students involved in the arts have tremendous academic benefits compared to students without exposure to the arts. Art inspires kids to excel in and out of the classroom. It helps students stay in school, increases motivation, improves attitudes and attendance, and improves academic performance.
According to Americans for the Arts, a student involved in the arts is:
- 4x more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.
- 4x more likely to participate in a math or science fair.
- 3x more likely to win an award for school attendance.
- 3x more likely to be elected to class office.
Lower-income or socioeconomic students experience even greater benefits from the arts. Low-income students highly engaged in the arts are more than twice as likely to graduate compared to their peers with no arts education and have a 5x lower dropout rate.
3. Music Can Improve Memory
Want your kids to remember their homework assignments, where they put their shoes, or to brush their teeth before bed? Music might help. Research has shown that participation in music at an early age can help improve memory. Exposing children to music in early development helps them learn word sounds and meanings, and dancing helps build motor skills. Even adults can experience memory benefits from just listening to music. Kids without music and art may find themselves emotionally stunted, socially confused, and extremely bored with what is given to them at school. The base level of how to learn is simply not going to be enough for kids like them. They need more. They need better ways to connect with the topics in their mind and the subjects before them.
4. Music and Art Enhance Creativity
This may sound like an obvious benefit, but the effects of enhanced creativity will extend to many aspects of your child’s life. A student that might struggle with writing or speaking their thoughts and emotions could find freedom in art. Art provides them with the tools, the canvas, and the colors they require to unleash their inner turmoil or even their joy. Children develop innovation skills when they’re encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art and playing music. Those skills can open doors later in life; 72% of employers say that creativity is the #1 skill they look for when hiring.
5. Music Improves Social Skills
It’s not always team sports that teach important social skills; playing an instrument can help, too. Music groups and ensembles can help kids develop important life skills such as teamwork, developing leadership skills, discipline, and how to relate to others.
6. Art and Music Improves Language and Reading Skills
Children’s brains develop faster with music, particularly in areas associated with language acquisition and reading skills, according to a 2016 study at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute.
For young children, making arts provides opportunities for language development. Toddlers learn words for colors and shapes as they create art. If you want to encourage language learning, communication, and reading in your kids, art and music are essential.
7. Art and Music Enhance Critical Thinking Skills
The creativity involved in art education strengthens critical thinking skills for kids. Visually learning through drawing, sculpting, and painting develops visual-spatial skills. This teaches kids how to interpret and use visual information.
As for music, a study of 3-4-year-olds learning to play piano scored significantly higher on spatial-temporal reasoning tests compared to those with no music instruction. Spatial-temporal reasoning is a precursor to logical thinking, abstract thinking, and problem-solving needed for the brain to function in mathematics, engineering, and physics.
8. Art and Music Build Confidence
As kids develop skills in art and music and improve those skills through repetition and practice, they build confidence in themselves. Studies have shown that when children participate in art activities with peers and provide criticism and praise to one another, the feedback they give to each other builds self-respect.
Color theories and therapies have been talked about through the last decade. If a kid struggles with performing speeches for their class, but they can create a masterpiece of light and shadows – why should their method be shunted by school budget issues?
9. Art and Music Creates Cultural and Personal Connections
Immersion in art and music can foster a sense of cultural awareness in kids. As students interpret visual imagery from artists and learn about art history, it helps them understand the concept of cultural diversity. Seeing a different culture explored through a visual medium such as sculptures or paintings helps kids process information differently than reading about it in a textbook.
Learning about musical history and exploring different types of music can help kids connect with different cultures. Art and music help people feel more connected to one another, as well. If music clicks with them and they can sing or play the piano to make sense of the world around them – why deny them that?
10. Art and Music Instills Discipline
Dedicating themselves to art and music teaches kids important concepts of discipline. While some kids may show a natural talent in one area or another, the truth is that ongoing commitment and practice is required to improve. By committing to stick with lessons and practicing outside of classrooms and lessons, kids learn discipline skills that will benefit them in many aspects of life.
Dance – while a culmination of art and sports – provides students with engaging physical activities and the ability to express themselves. Tap dancing, hip hop, ballet, freeform – there are so many types of dance programs out there. It takes hard work, determination, and commitment to become a part of a dance troupe. And yet there are so few schools that provide dance as a class. Many of them are privately owned studios. provides undeniable benefits that will help them throughout their lives.
As a business model that makes sense – but for some students without access to funding, they are left out of those studios.
This lack of access can greatly affect kids from becoming a part of something bigger than themselves.
Immersing children in the arts and music, at home, through lessons, at school, and in the community is the first step in educating and empowering children.
No matter how academics are praised and cherished – there is no denying the worth of beauty and creativity.
The Effects of Going Without
Kids who suffer in impoverished situations or mental instabilities through genetics or trauma can find freedom in art.
Depression has become a leading pandemic in its own right throughout the nation. Children are reported to be sad, disinterested, agitated, and holding a bleak outlook on life. Kids that are cut off in their rural communities or low-income neighborhoods can feel ignored, overlooked. Especially when they are without the same privileges as kids in higher-end schools with great Arts programs established.
Melancholy crashes into apathy, into low self-esteem, into bitterness. People comment that children are too young to grasp the situations they are in. However, the only thing a child must do is look at someone whose situation provides better opportunities, and they will know in an instant that they are being kept from the same opportunities. Inequality begins at birth – from the daycares kids are admitted into, to the schools their district allows them to attend. Federal mandated schools that become less and less affiliated with art programs are often the schools where these disenfranchised kids attend.
2020 provided a year of budget cuts – many schools cut their programs to save money on computers and the internet through the age of pandemic at-home learning. A school in Pennsylvania cut their entire sports program. Some kids might end up not even being able to strike out in their school-funded sports teams due to the lack of funds. Instead, they will be sidelined to play within their community courts – or not at all.
Florida has also had to face reality after their governor cut up the budgets for their schools. The school administrators are grappling with the grim reality of having to do away with every sports program. Not only are they are having to cut away sports, but they are also doing away with arts and music. All three programs are established as ways to support children staying in school and doing well.
What happens when these children who are inclined to playing popular American sports are also without access to the recreational activity that gives them growth and support?
High drop-out numbers, low testing scores, an increase in childhood depression, and obesity. Not only do these factors pop up in our children so does gang activity, illegal hits on their records, teen pregnancy, and a low enrollment rate into college.
Idle hands and wandering minds generate listlessness. Gatekeeping children from programs that could enrich their way of thinking and futures should never be on the table.
Math and English are important subjects for every student to learn – but when they become the monolith for all types of learning, it is the kids who truly suffer.
Access is everything when it comes to improving the lives of our children.
Therefore, this organization has been established. Providing children with the items and access they need so their futures may be secured.
Once children reach adulthood, it is up to them to make their own choices on how to live their life.
Expecting them to be informed on every possible opportunity while only providing them with a few default paths in life however is an irresponsible way to raise the next generation of dreamers and doers.
So, read on ahead – and join the mission to help children tap into their potential.