ART INTEGRATION

Article Summary of the Importance of Art Integration

Valerie R. Martinez
University of La Verne

ART INTEGRATION

Article Summary of the Importance of Art Integration

In the article Art in Schools Inspires Tomorrows Creative Thinkers, written by Jeffrey
T. Schnapp, who is the director of the Stanford humanities lab at Stanford University and a
prominent cultural historian of the 20th century, Schnapp discusses the importance of art and the
consequences of art being eliminated in classroom settings, specifically in correlation to reading,
writing, and arithmetic. He not only looks towards the past and the influences art has had on the
people living in those eras, but he also questions the future of art integration and what is
ultimately best for the generations to come.
Schnapp begins his article by stating that education without art is equal to schooling that
fails to value ingenuity and innovation, and further more defines art as the fitting together of
words, images, objects, processes, thoughts, and historical epochs. There is this quality about
art that allows one to go beyond the realm of what is reality, addressing complex questions,
issues, or ambiguities in life that may present themselves, and then taking that and finding a way
to capture, create, or think about it in a unique way. Art is all encompassing and Schnapp
provides example such as art being the cleverness of Odysseus; the intimate knowledge of
materials in a sculpture by Renaissance Master Benvenuto Cellini; the inventive genius of a
Leonardo da Vinci, and so on. It has the potential to change history, and its no wonder that
extremist groups such as the Taliban and Nazis felt so threatened by it because it a form of
rebellion towards the status quo and wields power in the form of individual creative expression.
Towards the middle of the article, Schnapp equates erasing art to denying the reality of
human differences and historical change and states that omitting art from school curricula
impoverishes learning in core subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Art is vital in
reading because it involves navigating the cognitive complexities of books and an emerging

ART INTEGRATION

cluster of new media that merge text, moving for still images, and sound. Art is necessary to
writing because students need the ability to state arguments, create narratives, and thereby master
the rules of written communication. Art is critical to arithmetic because it is based on using
abstract theories to make sense of difficult problems in the form of theories, proofs, and
formulas. Art really does fit everything together as it weaves into all aspects of life and is not
limited to just these three subject areas.
As for future generations, learning shouldnt be limited to telling students what to do
because it is the right way or the only way. Rather art should be integrated into education to get
future generations to question everything, come up with their own limitless possibilities, make
sense of what they are learning in their own creative ways and promote flexible, imaginative,
and critical thinking that is required to grapple with the complex and ever-shifting challenges
posed by the contemporary world.
Schnapp concludes his article by stating that the endurance of art summons humankind
to look beyond the immediate chores our daily existences toward the far grander horizons of
knowledge and growth. Art is what has sets us humans apart, because it is our way of making
sense of the world around us, and as it is constantly changing to reflecting life during certain
periods of time, so are we continually changing and evolving to make sense of ourselves.

ART INTEGRATION

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Resources

Schnapp, J. (2009, January 28). Art in Schools Inspires Tomorrow's Creative Thinkers. Retrieved
March 5, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/arts-role-creative-thinking