Why Fine Arts Should Be Banned From Schools

In this day in age, we all know the true threat to our future as a country is the alarming number of stellar test takers in China and India that increasingly show up our hopelessly average children. Why is this? Because we have for too long allowed our children to be distracted by trivial things such as music, art, and dance. These are not important in life and therefore should be banned from schools throughout the nation. Is this a bit harsh? Perhaps, but that is what we need.

We must outnumber the crazies who seem to think that the arts are just as important as math and science, and think that they benefit kids and help them “grow as human beings.” Utter nonsense. Our children must learn all the facts in the world if we are to have a chance against other countries. They do not need “culture” or “beauty” or to “learn to see the world differently.” They need to be geniuses with absolute focus and determination.

Since of course all sane people agree with me, let us scoff at the foolishness of a few radical liberals who wrote this essay supporting the arts:

Imagine that your entire childhood has been centered on the arts. What you want to do with your life has been clear to you since you were ten – pursue your dream and become an artist or musician or actor or whatever your passion may be. Or even imagine that you are just a normal child who participates in various activities, one of which happens to be a fine art that you love. Then one year you get the crushing news that your school has chosen to cut the arts program that you are in. Anyone would be devastated, wouldn’t you? Historically, when schools have faced budget cuts, fine arts programs have often been the first to go. Even in more prosperous times, fine arts funding is sometimes funneled into math, science, and other “core” subjects because the arts are not seen as being essential. However, this lack of arts education hurts children more than it helps them. Fine arts programs should not be cut because doing so deprives children of an essential quality of humanity: the ability to appreciate beauty, to be creative, and to express themselves.

As fear of China and India's stellar test-takers grows, American schools often abandon the "useless" creative pursuits in favor of more math and science. Many directors and teachers of the arts find their jobs and security in jeopardy because schools do not want to spend the money it takes to run these programs. And that is often without a budget crisis like some districts have recently found themselves in. It is sad and, quite honestly, disappointing that the fine arts are so often deemed frivolous and unnecessary – a luxury few can afford. This view that fine arts are not essential to education could not be farther from the truth. Children who take music or drama learn more creative thought processes that can help them think outside the box, something that will help them for the rest of their lives, no matter what profession they go into. Children educated in the arts have been proven to receive a fuller, richer, rounder education that better prepares them to become productive members of society. On top of that, there have been studies that show that kids involved in the arts often receive higher scores on standardized tests.

The question of fine arts funding is, at its deepest level, a question of what we as humans value most. Do we want to raise a generation of rote memorizers, of testing machines, of children who can produce the right answer but can never truly analyze it; or would we rather nurture creativity and imagination? The soul does not thrive on plain, dry facts – it thrives on beauty, on art, on music. Without fine arts programs, schoolchildren may have more time to learn math and science, but this time may come only at the cost of forsaking that which is necessary to maintain our humanity. School should not be for teaching children what to think, it should be for teaching them how to think for themselves. Even the simplest of machines can compute the what, but only the human brain is sophisticated enough to determine the why. Without arts programs children are not taught to explore the crucial why. Society can cram facts into a child’s brain very easily, but then these kids are simply products of what adults have told them, not of what they themselves have figured out by observing the more intangible and deep aspects of life.  Without the arts, they learn to be nothing but machines, robots even.

Far from leading to a downturn in math and science skills, fine arts can actually improve test scores while also teaching children creative skills. The arts' value lies in their ability to help us see the things in life that otherwise would be invisible; things that, if we are taught purely logic, we will never be able to fully appreciate. Life is made up of more than just facts and absolutes. It also contains those things that are abstract, that center on feelings and emotions. The question of fine arts funding in public schools is extremely important not only to our children’s futures, but to the future of our country and of the human race as a whole. The arts are essential because they enable us to see past what is immediately in front of us to what is inside of us. They remind us of what makes us human.

I simply could not stop laughing at the ridiculousness of this essay, as I’m sure all of you could not either. We must band together to stop these ideas and insure our future as a country, a future that must be rooted in math and science if we are to retain our status as the most powerful country on earth.