Cutting Back on the Arts and P.E. is a Bad Idea

School budget cuts to the arts and physical education have been a nationwide phenomenon over the last two decades.  As someone who grew up with a huge appreciation for the arts, as well as for team sports/physical education, I find this trend both saddening and perplexing.  It confuses me when school systems make these cuts, because it flies in the face of all the research on the importance of both the arts (music, visual arts, theater, etc.) and P.E.  Most academic research supports the value of the arts, finding students who participate do better in the academic areas and are more likely to stay in school than those who don't. Similar findings have been found for students who are physically active.  Exposure to the arts helps broaden students' knowledge bases, which helps their reading skills. I’ve even heard of successful scenarios where elective (specials) teachers have worked alongside academic teachers to help strengthen a lesson. For example, students might do a report on Beethoven in their language arts class and then learn about a symphony in their music class.  Unfortunately, many schools are cutting art/ p.e. in favor of math / reading simply because music and the arts aren't government-tested like reading, writing, and math are.  As a result, school districts are pressured to cut them first.  But this is a knee jerk reaction that doesn't take into account the big picture.  The facts continue to say that cutting the arts/ p.e. will only result in lower test scores in those aforementioned, core, “government tested” subjects. So I guess this blog post is more of a rant than any of my previous posts.  It’s actually more of a shout…STOP CUTTING BACK ON THE ARTS AND P.E. IN OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS!