Art education is not just about art

The Yuma Area Art Education Association (YAAEA) recognizes the commitment and, in these days of budget constraints and standardized testing, the courage of principals and district administrators who understand the importance of educating the whole child and stand by it. Administrators and school boards in the Yuma area that provide art education to their students are to be applauded.
 
A quality fine arts program from a certified teacher with a degree in art education fosters critical creative thinking and teaches divergent problem solving; skills that are imperative in today's global economy.
  
Americans should be leaders, not followers, and a quality art education helps foster those traits. Researchers in a recent study in Boston funded by the J. Paul Getty Trust found "that arts programs teach a specific set of thinking skills rarely addressed elsewhere in the curriculum – and that far from being irrelevant in a test-driven education system, arts education is becoming even more important as standardized tests exert a narrowing influence over what schools teach."
 
Art education is vital to a child's cognitive development. A quality education in fine art bolsters self-confidence and improves overall academic performance. We at the YAAEA urge all parents to thank their principals if their child is receiving art education from a properly qualified instructor.
 
However, if your child is not receiving art education, ask your principal and school board members why - why are your students not receiving an equivalent education as their peers in Yuma? The Boston study referenced earlier statistics: "What we found in our analysis should worry parents and teachers facing cutbacks in school art programs. While students in art classes learn techniques specific to art, such as how to draw, how to mix paint, or how to center a pot, they're also taught a remarkable array of mental habits not emphasized elsewhere in school."
 
Art is extremely important at all levels of child development and your child deserves these essential skills.
 
For more information, see "Art for Art Sake" by Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner, The Boston Globe.


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HOLLY HENDRICK-JONES
The Yuma Area Art
Education Association