Gretchen Henneman1

Gretchen Henneman
Mrs. Cramer
Comp Pd. 7
4 Oct. 2018
Arguing Arts Education

Like any political issue, there are always two sides to the story, and society’s rulings that

play a factor as well. Typically, society “wins” because people do not develop educated opinions.

Arts education has been a political issue for decades now and is still being fought today. The topic

can be an issue because both sides of the topic are passionate about the topic. Then there are the

people who play the role of following the topic without having enough knowledge to form an

educated opinion. These people tend to follow the standards set by society. This adds to the

problem. Arts education is a conflicting subject because of politics and/or society’s standards, and

citizens’ reasoning for being against or for the topic.

Society and politics are one reason why arts education is a conflicting subject. Society

means the popular opinion, or what is commonly understood. The popular opinion is that arts

education is a waste of time, a waste of schools’ money, and overall... unnecessary. Politics control

peoples’ reasoning for being against arts education. Currently, an issue being fought against arts

education is funding. This is a reason why society plays a role in this fight. People involved in the

arts can be considered minorities in the social hierarchy. Therefore, schools across America are

fighting funding issues because a lot of schools’ money is going to things such as sports, rather

than the arts. The funding has led to arguments because of this, and some are resulting in the cutting

of arts programs and arts education in schools all together (Taylor 1-3). The popular opinion is

that the arts or arts education provides false hope to children. Society leans toward the belief that

the arts won’t prepare children for after high school, or the real world. Education is all about

preparing children for the future, whatever the future may be. In today’s world, the arts aren’t
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usually considered an option for a future. Few children leave high school wanting to pursue a

career in the arts, because of personal disinterest, or society screaming other options (Garvis and

Pendergast). Politics and society are the popular opinion that arts education is unnecessary.

However, people involved in the arts and arts education are passionate on why arts education is

essential for a child’s development.

Arts education is a conflicting issue and both sides of the topic are passionate about their

opinion. Majority of society may be against arts education, but there are still people who believe

arts education is necessary. Although this teaching type is a branch of education, the arts focus on

a wide range of skills. Arts education can be broken down into branches as well. These include

vocal, instrumental, dance, visual art, and drama education. One of the skills children learn or take

from an arts subject is discipline. Arts subjects involve certain rules and require strict instruction

and enforcement. The skills such as discipline children develop from these subjects can be used in

other subjects and in the real world. Teachers who fight for the rights to this type of education also

believe that the subjects give children an individual identity depending on the individual student’s

interest and talents. Teachers believe that with guidance, the students can improve on skills and

personal interests. The arts can be viewed as tradition in some schools, which is another reason

why people fight for arts education today (International xvii-xix). People also fight for arts

education because of the connections the arts make to other classes the students are taking, and the

styles of teaching being enforced. Arts education can be tied in to subjects that children are taking

today. People who supports arts education believe that the subject teaches the past, present, and

future (International xvii-xix). For example, in music theory children sometimes must analyze and

learn about music by many different composers. These composers come from separate time

periods in music alone and can be connected to the time periods children learn about in history

classes today. Some arts teachers believe that children can use the types of music from these times
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to help them connect and remember the subject. That is another reason why people fight for arts

education today.

Although some people are for arts education, more people are against it. People who do

not support arts education believe that the arts should be cut from schools all together. People not

supporting this type of education believe that the arts should be cut because students aren’t

performing as well in core subjects. The thought is that the arts should be the first thing to go

because the arts aren’t core classes. If students aren’t performing well in core classes why should

students get the privilege of taking an elective as diverse as the arts? People against arts education

also have a hard time understanding how arts teachers believe that the arts can connect to students’

core classes. The belief is that the children already have the discipline that the arts teachers are

claiming the students gain from these classes (Hetland and Winner 3-6). People who are against

arts education believe the arts should be cut from schools. As previously said, funding for the arts

in America has become a huge issue. There are frequent questions asked by people against arts

education. One being why do schools need to hire separate teachers for these arts subjects? People

do not believe that schools need to be hiring or keeping the already hired arts teachers. The debate

is that regular teachers could be trained to do the arts teachers jobs, if arts education is necessary.

This causes conflict between teachers as well because the arts teachers believe that non-arts

teachers don’t understand the specialization of the subjects. People are also against arts education

because some people do not understand how a uniform curriculum is possible. The thought process

is that because the arts is such a diverse subject, enforcing a uniform curriculum across schools is

impossible. Education today is commonly based off standardized testing. People are against arts

education because they do not believe it can be tested or taught in a uniform or standardized way

(Gardener 71-83). People against arts education believe that the only solution to this problem is to

cut the programs and jobs. Since the programs are being cut out of some schools anyways, why
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not solve funding issues and cut more? Because of the programs being cut, they believe that there

is no job security for arts teachers (Taylor 1-3). People who are against arts education build up the

great society that against arts education as well.

In conclusion, the topic of arts education is a political issue due to society’s standards, and

Americans’ reasons for being against or for education of the arts. Society is generally the people

who are against arts education. There is still a portion of the American population who are for arts

education though. Unfortunately for that part of the population, majority of the population is

against arts education. Since arts education has become a political issue, uniform decisions about

the topic most likely won’t be made for decades. This is because both sides of the issue are equally

passionate.
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Works Cited

Garvis, S. & Pendergast, D. (2011). An investigation of early childhood teacher self-efficacy

beliefs in the teaching of arts education. International Journal of Education & the Arts,

12(9). Retrieved [date] from http://www.ijea.org/v12n9/.

Howard Gardner (1989) Zero-Based Arts Education: An Introduction to ARTS PROPEL,

Studies in Art Education, 30:2, 71-83, DOI: 10.1080/00393541.1989.11650706

International Handbook of Research in Arts Education. Ed. Liora Bresler. University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.

Researching Drama and Arts Education Paradigms and Possibilities. Ed. Philip Taylor. New

York: P. Taylor. 1996, Print.