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Tourney Round 2, Debate No. 12: Art and/or Music are Important in Grade School

What we must determine in this debate is whether or not music and art classes are important at the grade-school (k-5) level. I would first like to draw attention to the word 'important.' According to the American Heritage Dictionary, 'Important' means "of much or great significance or consequence." (I got this definition from Dictionary.com) I would also like to add that in the context on this resolution, an "important" class in an elementary school is a class that is of educational value, and of value to the student. Now, I turn to the question - are art and music classes important at the grade school level? I have three main arguments. First, only a small percentage of jobs in America are held by professional artists and musicians, hardly a "significant" number. Second, the State educational system does not require proficiency in art or science, and third, art is better learned not in a class of its own, but in integration with other classes. My first point: Only a small percentage of jobs in America are held by professional artists and musicians. Elementary training only gives a disproportionate weight to these arts. Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we? Number of artists employed in the United States = 218,000 Number of musicians, singers, and related workers employed in the United States = 264,000 Source: Department of Labor Number of Americans employed in the United States = 142,000,000 Source: EconBrowser.com Once we do a few calculations, we find that this is only 3.4% of the American workforce. We must remember that the primary purpose of the educational system is to prepare youth for the workforce. The ability of any course to prepare a student for the world of work is truly the best way to determine whether a course is "important" or "significant." My second point is that State Educational Standards do not require art or music. Though there are state standards in education in history, geography, math, and science, there are none for either music or art. The state does not require ANY proficiency at all in either art or science. The lack of standards for schools in both music and art speaks volumes about how "much consequence" it has to education. Feel free to check this lack of standards out for yourself at http://www.education-world.com... Neither the state of South Dakota nor the state of Wisconsin requires any proficiency in art or music from the ages k-4. Thirdly, right-brained children are better taught not in an art class, but with the use of right-brained teaching methods. Our children can express themselves creatively and with a purpose in classes like science and math. Children can work creatively in these classes, which can help to foster the right-brain in a child's education. It is not necessary to actually have an art class to be able to work creatively. Many schools and teachers are working harder than ever to integrate styles of learning that appeal to every type of learner and both sides of the brain. In fact, in the article my opponent mentions, Bernice McCarthy says that we should work to integrate right-brained activities. She says, "teachers should use instruction techniques that connect with both sides of the brain. They can increase their classroom's right-brain learning activities by incorporating more patterning, metaphors, analogies, role playing, visuals, and movement into their reading, calculation, and analytical activities." Please note that NOWHERE in the article does she suggest increasing participation in art or music will help right-brained students to learn. Instead, she urges that we add more right-brained learning methods to our reading, science, and mathematics curriculum. For these three reasons - that art-related jobs are a tiny minority in the workforce, that State Standards do not require art or music proficiency, and that right-brained children can be just as reachable with creative teaching methods as their peers are by conventional methods, I must strongly disagree that music and/or art are important in grade school.