With strict accountability in testing a priority, how can the arts become a value in our schools ?How are creative students valued?

It is a tragic fact that with the financial situation and the "accountability" of schools determining which courses will be cut from the curriculum, many of the fine art courses have been cut from schools.  Somehow, administrations have ignored the importance of fostering all the intelligences.

The cognitive research in 1983 of Howard Gardner of Harvard should have convinced educators of the importance of fostering the visual, sound, and musical intelligences, but, sadly, these areas are being neglected despite studies that have revealed how students can learn better when, for instance, they illustrate an idea or put it to music or connect the mathematical concept with art.  One such study demonstrated that learners improved their math scores after they participated in drama classes.  Tapping into the right side of students brains clearly helps the left side.

Added to this factual data, there is no question that many students come to school mainly because of an athletic program or a creative arts program, for in these arenas they can excel, express themselves, and, consequently, feel personal satisfaction.  In addition, they get to interact with friends--socialization is extremely important to teens, especially.

It is because of the United States's having become such a materialistic, consumer nation that the liberal arts are of a diminished appreciation.  Now, people go to colleges and universities for "edu-training" so that they can procure a high-paying job.  Little appreciation is given to the musician who plays in a symphony, the artist, the theatre actor.  Yet, the creative mind is, and always will be, the one who comes up with great ideas.  Who knows how much having had the creative arts may have assisted the chemist with his/her new discovery?  Or the advertising executive with the new campaign?  Nevertheless, creative people are only valued when they generate new ideas that will save or make money in this country--or entertain the masses.

Above all else, it is the creative arts that sustain the soul.  These are the areas that satisfy people's basic needs and desires--the ones that stimulate the heart and give meaning to the personal lives of all people. Therefore, if for no other reason, the creative arts should be valued highly.