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What is not broadly known is the impact of dismissing art from the lives of our children. 'Champions of Change, the Impact of the Arts on Learning' is the most comprehensive study on the subject of students involvement in the fine arts and how it relates to academic success. The study builds a strong for students achieving higher levels of academic success and in higher overall numbers when involved with fine art. Per the study; - 82.6% of 8th graders earned mostly As and Bs who were involved heavily in fine arts versus 67.2% earning As and Bs who were not. - 30.07% of the respondents who participate in fine arts performs community service where only 6.28% of the respondents who do not participate in fine arts perform community service. - Students who are not heavily involved in fine arts have more than double the chance of dropping out of school by the 10th grade. - 56.64% of the respondents who participate in fine arts read for pleasure where only 34.62% of the respondents who do not participate in fine arts read for pleasure. These are just some of the findings in the particular study. The arts show students much more than how to paint a picture or how to play the piano. Fine art helps the creative aspect of your child's mind grow, instills discipline, provides a sense of pride, self-esteem, and accomplishment. These skills not only aid your child in doing better in school, but they will do better in their adult life, with their work, their family, their mental well being. So what do you do if your child's school has had major cuts in their art program? Private instruction can be a great alternative. You need to be cognizant of the pros and cons in this option. Lets look at the pros first. First, due to budget cuts and pressure for schools to ensure their students score well on standardized testing (oddly enough the students who are involved in the arts score better on average) the arts get less attention that other subjects in school. Thus the lesson quality is diluted. Meaning your child has an excellent chance of getting better fine art instruction in a professional fine art instruction environment. The classes are smaller, sometimes even one on one. The instructor only has to teach that particular art form. Another plus in private fine art education is that your child's success is directly tied into the instructors income. A public school teacher who has half of their art class receive failing grades will still be paid the same at the end of the week. The equivalent in the private art instruction world would mean a bankrupt business in a very short order. Providing private art classes is a business. They must produce a good product or risk not being around in the future. The drawback to private instruction is if one cannot afford them to begin with. Private lessons cost money. Knowing the benefits of a child being educated in the fine arts, I would happily drive a less luxurious car, or eat out less often to ensure their fine art education. However this may not be an option if, say you are a single parent, and there is too much month left after the end of your money. To wrap up this point, private lessons are great, often better than what is provided even in schools that have ample art and music budgets. An alternative solution may be needed if you you are on a limited budget. There are things that you can do to help your local school raise money for their art programs. First and foremost is fund raising. This can be gone about in a variety of ways. For example in my high school in Burbank California a parent spoke to executives at NBC studios. Weeks later, NBC donated high-end production and editing equipment for our high school. Everything for the fine art of film making was at our school. It may take a bit of creative thinking and a lot of leg work, but your local businesses or local celebrities could be a fantastic funding source for your school. In return they get good PR. Of course you have the traditional events to raise funds. A car wash, garage sales, silent auctions, etc. The real make break point for the above types of fund raisers is having the right person in-charge to ensure that all the details are taken care of and everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing. If no one shows up to the car wash because no one knew about it, it won't do anyone much good. Nor will the dozen cookies at the bake sale. Organize and communicate. I know a good amount of people. More pertinently I know people who know more people than I could ever hope to know. When confronted with the difficult task of refitting your schools classical music program with instruments, it can seem overwhelming. On the other hand, with a group of hundreds of students and adults it looks like this. An email/phone call/mailer goes to your network about the problem. Get your network to scourer their homes and the homes of people they know for instruments to donate. Last year I gifted a nice classical guitar that had been idle for years to a school. A email, telephone call, postcard to your network regarding the problem. Then invite everyone with a pulse and $20 to a bowling fund raiser. You raise twenty dollars for all who attend. 50 people show. Already you have a thousand dollars for music instruments. The following week target local businesses and parents in your network to gift items of worth for an auction. Students can hand out fliers and place posters in store-fronts, place announcements in online classifieds and the local newspaper, ensure your network is talking the event up to everyone they know. The auction is a success raising $3,000. When you have enough money for the instruments have the kids study hard and put on a fund raiser concert, charge $10 and put the money aside. Lorn knows, a student lose his tuba somewhere. It is plain to see, a dedicated group can accomplish much more than an individual. What happens if your school is so strapped for cash and so over crowded that they cannot afford the fine art teacher let alone the space for art classes? And what if there are no reputable private fine art instruction schools local, or you cannot afford them at this time? At this point you have to take matters entirely in your own hands. However you are not entirely alone! There are products on the market, that for a low cost, can still help educate your child in the fine arts. Here is an example, for a onetime payment of $30 you can have you child take online violin lessons with Violin Master Pros. There are also online lessons and DVD instruction programs for other musical instruments, writing, drawing, and more. Any will be far more productive than another evening of video games or cable TV. Beware of asking uncle John - who plays the piano - to teach your child. If someone demonstrates knowing how to do something well, it by no means demonstrates they can teach it well! Bad lessons can very quickly turn your child off to the arts. Even if your school all of a sudden receives a huge grant for their art program it won't do much good if your child is stale on art. All in all our societies viewpoint must be changed in regards to how important the arts are to our children and our future. It is irrefutable, children perform better on standardized tests when involved in fine art. Yet many schools will cut art and music to focus on getting better scoring results! A tiny portion of our defense budget would easily fund art and music in our schools nationwide. Many parents have the viewpoint, 'if it is not reading or arithmetic then what real use is it my child'? Yet in the top science schools in America all have a extensive fine art programs in their universities for a reason. Students perform better in their studies! It is our job as parents, budget cuts or no budget cuts, to ensure that our children receive the fine art education that they need. If we don't do it for our children, who is going to? Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
Eric Hines has been the owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles, a musician in two bands, and has enjoyed traveling the world. Currently he finds himself employed as an executive for the world's largest fine art instruction program, Mission: Renaissance
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