Fine arts electives are being cut in many high schools across the country. Classes in the fine arts are no longer mandatory in high school curricula and some students are not taking them because they aren’t required anymore. This could be an issue for enrollment for some high schools. Students who are interested in fine arts base their high school decision off of which school has the best fine arts program and now some high schools will not have fine arts in their curriculum. This issue could potentially affect college enrollment. If high schools aren’t mandating fine arts classes in their curriculum and students aren’t exposed to the arts, they will not be informed or interested in the fine arts. Colleges with majors such as music and art education could therefore suffer from the cuts.
There are many reasons why high schools should keep fine arts in their curriculum. Education, creativity, and job opportunity are some of them. There are high schools and colleges that are designed for students who are interested in fine arts and who want to pursue that interest. Having fine arts in all high school curricula gives students the opportunity to see whether any aspect of the arts interests them or not. But even if a student already knows that he or she does not like fine arts, he or she should be encouraged to take classes anyway, to expand their knowledge of the subject. Matthew Shank, who is minoring in fine arts, said “High schools should not drop fine art classes, they are important to help minds [sic] development in subjects that can be applied through fine arts and fine art electives enhance the core subjects.” There are many people who helped shaped today’s society who were involved with fine arts. Some of these people that contributed were Leonardo da Vinci, Andy Warhol and Alfred Hitchcock. Each one of them contributed something that revolutionized society today. Leonardo da Vinci contributed his gift for painting, Andy Warhol with his photographs and Alfred Hitchcock with his films. Fine arts bring out the creative side of people. Having fine art classes will help students try and find that creative side that they probably did not know they had. Fine arts major Sarah Spang said, “Fine art classes keep the learning world sane and they allow kids to express themselves in ways that they want to.”
However, there are also many reasons that fine arts do not have to be part of the curriculum in high schools. Fine arts classes are not as important courses as math and sciences classes, some might agree. Fine arts are in a different field of study than other classes like math and science and might not be taken seriously; that’s why some high schools do not require fine art classes in their curriculum. Why force students to study something they do not want to learn and teach something that is not relevant to them? If students do not have to spend time on fine arts classes, then they could focus more time on classes that will help them in college for the students’ intended major. There are not as many fine arts majors in college and some high schools take that into consideration and do not require students to take fine arts classes in high school. Creativity can be expressed in different ways than just fine arts. For example, to express creativity without fine arts, you can join a sports team or a school club. Any major you decide on in college will help you land a job so having a business major is just a good as having fine arts major. High schools do not need to teach fine art classes in their school.
My opinion on this issue is that I agree with a little bit of both sides. Fine arts is not a big deal to me and was not in high school either, but I think that it is important to have fine arts classes and that every student should have to take at least take one class of fine arts. I believe it is important to venture out and explore new things and maybe you might like it if you tried it. It is good to have that experience under your belt because it might help you out later in life. Also, even if you do not like fine arts, someone else might be interested in fine arts and would like to take those classes, so it is important to have those classes for the students who are interested.
