Is it just us, or has September been an insanely busy month?! Back to school is always a crazy time- between shopping for clothes and gathering school supplies, our plates are always full, but somehow this year has seemed even more intense! Covid has brought an added element of uncertainty this year with school administrators needing to develop, update, change and then re-write their plans for the return to school. There has been a lot of uncertainty about the experience that our kids are going to have this year. Questions have swirled around schedules, procedures and curriculum.
In many cases, the measures implemented in reaction to Covid are resulting in reduced classroom time. For the artists among us, this is of particular concern because in the past we've seen that whenever our schools need to adjust to a new set of rules, arts education is often the first subject cut. This was true during the financial meltdown of a decade ago when budgets were cut and art subjects were some of the first removed from the classroom. We've also seen art and music swept aside to make room for more 'testable' subjects as a result of the shift towards common core curriculum, the impact of which is outlined in this article from The Best Schools.org titled Common Core's Orphaned Subjects: Music and the Arts. Although it's true that past performance is no guarantee of future results, we'd bet that if schools need to decide what stays and what goes to accommodate reduced classroom time, painting projects (and other arts education) will be on the outs!
In the long run, we believe that a lack of arts opportunities for our children is not to their benefit. Studies have found that students who participate in arts education have numerous advantages over those who do not. According to the organization Americans for the Arts, these advantages include:
Higher academic achievement- Students heavily involved in arts and music education perform one year ahead of their non-participating peers academically
Scoring higher on standardized tests- Students who participated in arts education averaged SAT scores 166 points higher than peers who did not take art and music classes
More well-rounded development- According to analyses of numerous studies and their related outcomes, students who participate in arts education average positive outcomes fifteen percent higher across the board than those who do not
Even in a world where we expect arts education in schools to be reduced further, all is not lost! Pintsize Picassos is here to provide your children with an opportunity to have fun, create and make memories through painting. Register for all of your favorite classes today. You never know, you may even be setting your little tykes up for that Ivy League education! ;)
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