Why Art Is Important For Your Child

Today, schools throughout the US dedicate most of their time, effort, and resources to developing mathematical and reading skills. And, while these subject areas are important, this emphasis has often relegated the arts to a secondary role in a child's development.

Many of our most valuable skills - including creative ability, aesthetic judgment, problem posing and solving, critical thinking, and visualization- are uniquely fostered only by proper art education.

Countless studies clearly prove that art education not only develops the right side of the brain (responsible for all imaging and visualizing aspects of learning), it also develops neural body-brain connections - crucial if children are to realize their full potential in all areas of study (including math, reading, languages, science and writing). This is especially true for children in their formative elementary school years.

Art teaching education helps children develop emotionally and socially and provides them with a greater ability to deal with school and life in general. And, art education makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and helps level the "earning field" across socio-economic boundaries. Research shows high risk students are more likely to stay in school because art education provides an alternative to delinquent behavior resulting in an improved attitude towards school. Art actually helps develop many types of intelligences necessary to experience and understand today's complicated world. Research shows a significant correlation between the arts and student development and academic achievement (i.e. higher SAT scores). Finally, schooling in the arts helps prepare students for the 21st Century workforce and an economy built on knowledge, ideas, and creativity.