When most people think of art, they think of visual art as in paintings and drawings. People do not often think of art as a broad topic. Art can be in the form of a music, dance, product, ability, paintings, books, websites, etc. The definition of art is the ability or application of the human creativity. In our education system today, we are practically being told that art is not as important as other subjects like science or math. We are becoming more and more “standardized” and kids are being forced to retain more and more information. This information is distracting them away from their artistic ability and is often decreasing their creative ability. Art is what built our society today.
Most successful businesses start with a crazy idea. An example of this is Microsoft. When Bill Gates first showed his work to Xerox, they thought he was crazy and insane for his thought that people would want a personal computer. Now look at him and how successful he is. What I have noticed is when many teachers give me a project, they tell me to write a paper or make a PowerPoint. This often limits my ability to show my full potential and impress others. The more we are limited to things like this, the less creative we become.
It seems that the importance of art in education is going downhill. Because of this, we are coming less creative and more standardized. What most people look at in education is what job it will get you. Really they should be looking at what skills that course is giving you. This is especially true now when we can’t even tell what will happen to technology or the economy next week. Shouldn’t education be better-rounded and not just based on the four main subjects? I think education should be giving you the skills necessary for future, not fact about the past. One of these skills is the skill to be creative. This skill is intertwined and repeatedly used and practiced in the arts. Because of this, the arts are, and should be, as important as he four main subjects.
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