How can we save arts education programs in schools?

Should the government help fund these programs in schools?|||The easy answer to your question is to liberalize the education industry. Distribute education funds via a voucher system. Remove unnecessary regulations like NCLB. Let students spend their education on the schooling that will best serve them. They will be paying back the funds for the rest of their tax paying lives.





Most of the problems in the public education systems around the country are created by the idea that there is only one set of academic standards that everyone must learn. Our elected officials select boards of education to determine what everyone in the state must learn and, to a large degree, how schools are to be executed. Students are seen as inadequate if they do not master the core curricula, as are the schools that teach them.





If you wish to promote the instruction of the arts, do so with sobriety. Start with the notion that it is equally incorrect to force everyone to learn a musical instrument as it is to force everyone to learn algebra. The value in studying the arts is that some people will pursue them with passion. When students study with passion they develop skill and discipline. Excellence in one thing is a prelude to excellence in many things.





As it turns out, the core curricula are typically easier to master for wealthy, white and Asian students (I find it ironic that Asians are now considered part of the white demographic. You can change your ethnicity by performing better on standardized tests). The mandates of NCLB are not so restrictive for these groups of people. Having met the requirements easily, they are then free to pursue other interests like drama, sports, etc.





Unfortunately, many students who come from poorer households find it very difficult to master the core curricula. So our system berates them. We classify them as failures when they've practically just begun. We take away everything they might actually like about school and force them to focus on their weaknesses. At best this achieves mediocrity. Mediocrity in many things is a prelude to excellence in nothing.





The goal of our education system should be to find the passions of our children and build on their strengths. With a diverse set of independent schools, students can choose to follow the curriculum they wish at the school that best matches their particular learning styles. They will naturally gravitate toward what they do best and schooling will be a much more enjoyable process.





I'm not suggesting that we stop teaching the core subjects. Language and math will always be important to learn. But we should not make them mandatory. Leave room for the arts for all those who wish to pursue them.