Aracele Melgoza

Child Development 149

5/5/2013
Creative Arts for Children

Removing art, music, and drama programs will only decrease standardized test scores. In
a recent study 96 children aged 5-7 years who had supplementary art and music classes achieved
higher standardized mathematics scores than children who received the schools typical music
and art training (Rauscher). If funding is cut for our schools typical art and music programs the
results in our test scores will greatly reduce. Programs like these nurture our childrens cognitive,
social/emotional and physical skills.
Reducing funding for these programs will decrease the ability for our children to grow
cognitive skills. As a result our, children will have trouble solving problems and persisting at
certain tasks. Our brains have several neural pathways that are responsible for our attention span.
Focusing on the arts has been found to activate these pathways, which in return strengthens our
ability to pay attention. When these pathways are stimulated daily children improve their
attention abilities. This increases the chances of a child paying attention which is the basis of
learning. In addition, children who find an art form that works for them are more likely to be
more persistent in their daily activities. This means that children will be more likely to finish
class work and homework regularly.
Focused training in any of the arts also increases social/emotional skills in a child.
Drawing a picture, singing, and dancing all enable children to express themselves. When a child
sings or paints he or she is able to move on from obstacles. In some cases, children express how

they feel by drawing, singing, or acting better than by talking. This will help teachers better
understand the way their student is feeling or what he or she is going through. Many students
scores are affected by problems they have at home or bullying. If taken care of beforehand,
children will concentrate more in their classrooms and in turn raise test scores.
A common physical activity is drama which stimulates creativity in problem solving.
Our drama program also helps children in their public speaking skills. This is very important
because a lot of children are afraid of asking questions in class. Drama helps students gain the
confidence they need to stop being shy and to ask questions when they need help. By asking
more questions children will learn much faster. Drama also encourages children to use their
creative thinking to improve their problem solving skills. These skills are crucial to obtaining
better test scores because children are able to find different ways of getting the right answer.
Reducing funding for our art programs will not benefit our test scores. Focusing on art
has been proven to raise test scores. It is important to value art programs in every school; its
another form of reaching our children in their cognitive skills, social/emotional and physical
skills. In addition, art is a way for students to communicate any hardships that would otherwise
be left unsolved. When a student is going through a difficult time, it can greatly reduce test
scores. This can be eliminated by incorporating any form of art in our curriculum. It is to your
advantage to keep funding our art programs in order to raise our test scores.

Bibliography
Kohl, MaryAnn F. Barnes&Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013.
<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/maryann-kohl-importance-of-art/379002442/>.
Eisner, E. The Arts and the Creation of Mind. 2002
http://www.artinaction.org/w/whyart
Posner,Ph.D.Michael. Patoine.Brenda.The Dana Foundation.Web. 14 September 2009
http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23206