Most Americans will not become musicians or artists in...
Art and Music programs should be mandatory for students in Grade School
Students should not be required to study art and music in secondary school. Most Americans will not become musicians or artists in their life, so it is a complete waste of their time to be studying a topic that they probably have little to no interest in. Skill sets such as Math, or Science, are important to be taught in school because they can potentially lead to a multitude of different career options. There are very few career choices available for someone with an incredible drawing ability, and they are very low-paying jobs at best. Schools should have art and music as optional courses for students to take if they want to pursue that course. But as for the majority of the student populace, who most likely will not become artists or musicians, they should not be wasting their time with things they don't enjoy or wish to spend time learning. I'm not trying to say that schools should remove all musical and artistic programs, I'm simply stating that they should not be made mandatory for all students; just the students who want to do them.