by Clement Doucette
There has been a lot of talk recently about the STEM program, an initiative started by
President Obama to bolster science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in
American schools. As a result, arts and music programs are frequently cut in low-income
schools. While analyzing a work of art or performing Beethoven’s Ninth may seem useless to a
physics major, these tasks aid in fostering new and creative ways of thinking. And perhaps
more importantly, without vivid culture, where would our society be today?
In many school districts, particularly the cash-strapped schools of inner-city Chicago, arts
and music programs are the first to be cut when budgeting difficulties arise. Although initiatives
to bolster art education in Chicago were enacted in 2013, a survey conducted in 2014 showed
that this program did not live up to its standards, which called for at least two hours of arts and
music education per week and an “arts liaison” for each school. An NBC Chicago report from 2014 revealed that 14 percent of Chicago schools were still without art education, and just over half offered less than two hours of arts instruction per week.
According to Edward Fiske of Columbia University, art education has a highly positive
effect on students of lower socioeconomic status. Thirty three percent of high school seniors
who had studied music scored high on mathematics testing, while only sixteen percent of those
who did not study music performed well.
Although STEM may provide these schools with a higher amount of science and
mathematics classes, it is clear that the arts are needed for youth to be successful in these
programs. The arts open up new ways for students to think and expand the creative horizons and
potentials of children with difficult lives.
But in the grander scheme, the arts simply give us a better cultural awareness and richer
lives. The arts define who we are.
Imagine a world devoid of music, film, sculpture, and painting. Imagine a world in
which we are constantly running equations, solving for “x”, and reading technical manuals rather
than literature. With each art teacher cut, we may lose a future Rembrandt.
As the music teachers fade away, so does our nation’s voice. Why? Because one underrepresented kid in the inner city did not have the platform to express himself. And as a result, our nation loses what
could have been a wonderful piece of our cultural identity. Rather, we will be known as the
nation of robots and technical manuals.
As a nation, we must examine our priorities. STEM is important, but it is not the be-all
end-all solution to our nation’s education crisis. For the betterment of ourselves and our country,
please save some room for art and music.