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Should we consider dropping out of MAFA in high school? |
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According to Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, “ There is a direct correlation between improved SAT scores and the length of time spent studying the arts. Those who studied the arts four or more years scored 59 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math portions of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. For each additional year of arts study, the students gained an average of 22 points on the SAT.”
According to Frances Rauscher, Ph.D, and Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, of the University of California, Irvine, “ Music lessons have been shown to improve a child’s performance in school. After eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers tested showed a 46% boost in their spatial IQ, which is crucial for higher brain functions such as complex mathematics.” If we want our children to do well in math and science, they need to learn the creative thinking skills that the arts offer them.
Clifford V. Smith, President of the GE Foundation says “ GE hires a lot of engineers. That’s why the GE Foundation is making a major commitment to the field of arts and education. We want to develop young people who can do more than add up a string of numbers and write a coherent sentence. We want students who can solve problems and communicate ideas.” MIT reports that one New York accounting firm recruiting MIT students uses evidence of a minor concentration in the arts as a screening criteria.
A Rockefeller Foundation study ( 1994) reveals that college music majors have the highest rate of admittance to medical school, 66.7 percent of those applying. The acceptance rate for biochemistry majors is only 59.2%
Rexford Brown, speaking at the Education Commission of the States, said, “ Out of a classroom of 30 students, maybe 10 will be employed in arts-related occupations. This economic factor alone is a very good reason to support the arts in education.” The arts account for 6% of the GNP, more than the construction industry ( 4.8%) and just under wholesale trade ( 6.9%) “ the arts play an extraordinary role in the modern economy” says Denis Doyle, a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute. The arts are one area in which the US has a significant positive trade balance.
According to The Georgia Plan: A State Action Agenda for Arts Education “students in Japan and Germany, two of the most technologically advanced and economically sound nations in the world, are required to study the arts well into secondary school. In these countries, 14% of a student’s time in school is spent studying the arts. In Georgia, students in some school districts spend about 5% of their time in arts education, but most get less than that.” One day a week at MAFA exceeds the 14% of time required of students in Japan and Germany and far surpasses the requirements of the state of Georgia which is 0%.
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