Dear Future President,

So why it is that fine arts are being cut? Why is it that fine arts are the one that's cut, and not language arts or social studies? We all read and write; we can all Google American history. However, can most of the people out there probably can't even play the drums or recite an entire sonnet of Shakespeare. Fine arts classes such as theater, band, chorus, and dance allow students to further develop their creativity, and a unique skill. Not only will these skills be impressive on a resume, but they can help strengthen academic skills. Federal funding for education should take in account more on fine arts financing as well as the common core subjects.

A striving economic issue, the working class of America is currently dealing with a shortage of jobs. A couple of years dated back, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, the cities’ public school had a major cut in their budgets; it resulted in 50 schools closing and laid off of 1,000+ teachers. Around 10% of the teachers of the affected areas, fired were arts teachers. (Paraphrased from the article of Arts Programs in Schools Often in Danger of Being Cut by Jill Hambek of Washington Times) If we could just adjust the fine arts budgeting, we could create more job opportunities for arts gifted teachers. Thus, we could economically improve our society.

Not only does this problem affect the working class, but it also effects our next generation. The arts can help our next generation in several ways; from school motivations to a getaway from stress and anxiety to develop academic skills. “Factors related to the arts that positively affected the motivation of these students included a supportive environment that promotes constructive acceptance of criticism and one where it is safe to take risks.” (Published by Tyleah Hawkins in the article Will Less Art and Music in the Classroom Really Help Students Soar Academically?) Factually proven, fine arts students are more comfortable in their school’ which encourages them to be better-rounded. They’re just more likely to be involved in both after and before school extracurricular/clubs. With their skills continue to grow; they become more academically successful everyday as their skills are improved with the experiences they deal with. For example, some skills that can be strengthened through fine arts are organizations, creativity, time managements, and concentrations.

Studies have shown that schools nowadays really only care about how academically ranked they are. Budgets are given annually to schools with high rankings, while the lower ones face possible closing. Usually, mathematics and science scores are the one that matter. Internationally, the US is ranked fairly average in math and science. However, something we are ranked at the top is cinematography/ film, and our music industry influences the global world. Not to mention, the US is home to some of the most notorious art universities in the world. (For example, the Juilliard school in New York, SCAD of Savannah, etc.)

In conclusion, we need to work towards a better adjustment to fine arts funding to keep the programs alive. Our future generation should have the opportunity to express themselves and let their creativity take flights. These creative outside-of-the-box thinkers will be the sole key for our technological future and it'll mostly be them that are going to further develop our emerging technologies. It takes little action to make a decision that will sooner or later affect our future.

Yours truly,

Ngoc L.