The document discusses the importance of arts education. It argues that arts education helps develop critical thinking, creative problem solving, and communication skills that are valuable for students' future careers. It also notes that engaging in the arts teaches students to argue, make judgments, and find non-obvious solutions - skills that will be important for confronting new challenges. Additionally, the arts allow students to learn through hands-on experience and engagement. The conclusion emphasizes that supporting arts education on national and local levels is important for developing a dynamic, creative workforce and strengthening democracy.

1. Why Arts?
Shelby Putlak

2. Why are children encouraged to
attend school?
Find a steady career
Attend a good college

3. Businesses today are looking for
employees with critical and
creative thinking skills along with
attention to detail and persistence.

4. “to flourish in this new environment, students
will need to develop the ability to create
artistic and emotional beauty, to detect
patterns and opportunities, to craft a
satisfying narrative and to combine seemingly
unrelated ideas into a novel invention [as well
as] the ability to empathize, to understand the
subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in
oneself and to elicit it in others, and to stretch
beyond the quotidian, in pursuit of purpose
and meaning.”
Linda Nathan

5. The current national discussion in
education focuses on a common core
curriculum as well as testing in
math, science, and reading. Having all
students reach these national
standards is not inherently wrong.

6. But how will today’s schools
prepare their students to
confront these tasks that jobs
are asking for in an era focused
on standards and high-stakes
testing?

7. As the employment market has
changed in the last two decades to
demand creative thinking and problem
solving skills, reducing arts education
also diminishes a large purpose of
education: preparing individuals for
the workforce.

8. In the arts, you have to argue. You have to determine
why. The arts are about judgment, and there isn’t one
right answer. That is a challenge many students are
going to have to face, ones involved in the arts and ones
that are not.

9. And if we believe that students learn
by doing, by engaging, by getting their
hands dirty, then the arts must be
central to any core curriculum.

10. The arts offer great training to improve
cognitive, problem solving, and analytical skills
that many businesses and careers search for
today.

11. Teaching students to pass a test is
not going to help them land a
steady job in their future.

12. TO CONCLUDE
"The rapidly evolving global economy
demands a dynamic and
creative workforce. The arts and its
related businesses are responsible
for billions of dollars in cultural
exports for this country. It is imperative
that we continue to support the arts and
arts education both on the national and
local levels. The strength of every
democracy is measured by its commitment
to the arts.”