How art affects education in the United States

Introduction

Our vision and knowledge of the world have always been sources of inspiration that gave birth to some of the most wonderful works of art. Art movements throughout history tailored the way society experienced life, politics, or even religion. In schools, learning basic artistic skills is an essential part of the curriculum all over the world.

Since it’s so entangled in virtually every aspect of human existence, we decided to investigate how exactly art affects education in the US and how students benefit from art classes.

The history of art in the United States

Native American cave drawings found in Tennessee that date back to 6000 years ago are among the oldest pieces of art in the US. Through six millennia of recorded art history in the US, numerous art forms were born and spread beyond the American continent, affecting the entire world.

The colonial period brought together people from different meridians, which influenced the inception of new authentic American art forms, including blues and jazz music among others. In 1945, Jazz was introduced at Berklee College of Music as a regular part of their curriculum, which shows how US education kept its pace with contemporary art trends.If you are really interested in the topic of art in the United States, you definitely need to look into useful materials for college essays on art, where thousands of student essays are collected, providing a source of useful information even for professional art critics.

Art improves academic achievements

In 2019, Houston’s Arts Access Initiative conducted a study that included students from 42 schools based in the Houston area. The goal of the study was to analyze the impact of involvement in art studies on overall academic achievement tracked through individual school subjects.

One of the most impactful insights that the study provided was that artistic engagement improved students’ discipline. Furthermore, the results showed that writing skills have increased among those students that took art classes. College aspirations are more notable among kids that get involved in music, painting, or some other type of artistic expression.

Art classes engage and improve creative thinking which allows students to achieve better results with their written assignments. Sometimes, all that prevents us from writing an amazing essay is not the lack of knowledge but the absence of skill required to convey information appropriately. Reading works of master scribblers also improves writing skills, especially in terms of expanding our vocabulary.

Movies impact the education system

One of the most popular areas in US art is the cinema. There are many different services like eduzaurus.com that collect terabytes of information about cinema, music, and other arts, allowing students to dig through a variety of information sources.The movie industry in the US dictates many events, most notably the social life of young Americans. Through film, artists were able to inspire the socially endangered population to pursue higher education. The end of the 80s and the start of the 90s showed a significant increase in socially engaged movies that showed the lack of attention and systematic care for public schools in low-income areas.

Simplified access to media content makes movies available to more people than ever, allowing this art form to shape the way young people perceive life. This, in turn, forces schools to act accordingly and, more often than not, bend before the influence of popular culture on the minds of today’s academic youth. The recent trend of movies that feature inspirational characters like Stephen Hawking, Alan Turing, Nikola Tesla, and other great intellectuals can only incite younger generations to pursue knowledge.

Art promotes tolerance

We don’t need to speak Italian to enjoy Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, we just have to look at the timeless masterpiece and understand its beauty and the skill it took to create such perfection. The same goes for music, sculpture, and numerous other crafts. The art teaches us that different people see things in their own way and allows us to express our emotions.

In school, we share space with students from diverse backgrounds, and without tolerance, empathy, and curiosity that art promotes we would never be able to bridge social gaps and become functional people. Furthermore, kids should understand the value of constructive criticism, especially nowadays when social media allows everyone to share their comments on our public posts. Our craftsmanship improves only if we identify our weaknesses, so an artist needs to be tolerant and ready to hear what others have to say.

Artistic skills are the main components of prominent college degrees

Graphic design is one of the most popular professions today, thanks to the advancement of digital technology. Graphic artists create websites, product images, user interfaces, and many other types of visual content. Photography is also an important aspect of today’s world and photo manipulation is a lucrative skill in today’s job market. Literary talent opens all sorts of doors if well trained.

Thanks to the artistic backbone of these highly demanded professions, universities pay more attention to art courses and programs. We can even notice an expansion of online courses that offer different levels of degrees and certifications in art-based study programs. It appears that the global commercialization of art beyond music and film has forced the American education system to adapt and invest more resources in the development of art and related studies.

Conclusion

Art influences our lives on countless levels, whether we liked it or not, whether we want it or not. Some might say that art and education are inseparably connected so it’s not difficult to understand that they can both influence each other. In the US, the role of art in the education system had seen better days, but it appears that the future will be much better.