Importance of Art Education during Childhood Essay

Since more than two decades researchers have been discovering affirmative relationships between arts education and cognitive improvement in children. Gardner (1983) has claimed an affirmative relationship between arts and intellectual (Clark & Zimmerman, 2004). There are multiple advantages of arts education that range from the improvement of vocabulary and math competence, to the improvement of spatial reasoning. Today arts education is given much more importance than previously, when it was thought to be a lot of fluff. Art is not simply an extra subject in education; it is necessary to learning. When students learn about the visual arts, they get a view of the rich and fascinating world around them. This teaches them theirs as well as others history and customs. Art leads to a cultivation of expressiveness, imagination and originality along with critical thinking and analytical competence. It has been stated by the art educators that children as young as three years of age consistently use their imagination in different ways (Golbeck, 2001). The children studying about art expand their capabilities to consider meanings and to make assessments and decisions. Through comprehending and creating art, a student can learn how to work collaboratively with others and also how to put in effort to attain an objective. Also, art education helps in making a major contribution to the enhancement of the child’s capabilities to tackle with the abundance of visual indications obtainable to him and to comprehend and utilise these visual indications (Anway & McDonald, 1971). The enhancement of such competencies and qualities allows for making children better learners along with helping them to feel good; that is, it creates self-worth. It is a world where concepts and data are usually conveyed visually, and the children are required to learn the way they can consider and ascertain the sense of the pictures and also how they can use them so as to convey their own concepts. These talents and qualities are considered essential for individual success as well as America’s improvement.   In spite of this several schools have reduced their budget in art programs since the last decade and this has resulted in some schools providing with almost no art education (Prentice, 2000). These schools are not offering their students with the chance to improve their talents that are so essential if they are to succeed in a competitive fiscal setting in such an ethnically varied, visually adjusted world. Teaching Art Enid and Laura Zimmerman say that there are three standpoints of art teaching that have affected art education for youngsters since the last five decades. The first point is that a child’s piece of art is an expression of the natural internal procedures of improvement. The second point is established on a cognitive improvement attitude, and it concentrates on children’s building of general knowledge concerning the world. The third point is that art education leads to a promotion of self-improvement in order to allow the children to absorb themselves relative to the community they live in. According to Gardner (1980) when adults offer the youngsters with the kit, materials and support, their natural art capabilities develop. The adults should not be directly interfering with the children so as to develop their natural capabilities (Schaffer-Simmern, 1948). Infants and preschool children rather prefer to explore colors, feel and type of materials and express thoughts, concepts and insights. These are fine objectives for them. They value the procedure more than the end result. After completion of the work by a child, the teacher or parent should talk to him about it instead of simply praising him. This allows for learning more about the artwork and how the child thinks. Also, the instructor can put down points on paper and, if the child allows, fix it to the child’s work. Plus, the artwork should be dated. That allows the instructor to keep a track of the youngster’s improvement. Visual arts can be a source of advantage to children of all ages. From a kid’s first rate motor skill development to a teen’s expressive enhancement, the arts can prove to be a much efficient training and managing means. A person does not have to be absolutely knowledgeable on each and every procedure or have to purchase extremely costly equipment in order to bring in the arts to a kid’s life. Straightforward product selection and child focused examination can direct initial creative attempts. Children’s Motivational Beliefs about Art Art classrooms offer with distinct motivational tests. Even though kids usually take pleasure in the hands-on exercises which are part of most of the curriculum and they without reluctance involve themselves in the delegated projects, it is quite often hard to get them to put in all their efforts, to make their â€Å"hurried production† more detailed and improved. Many a times young students are overheard talking about who is good at art and who is not, which is mostly themselves. Usually with age kids become pessimistic concerning their art capability (Flannery & Watson, 1991; Gardner & Rosenstiel, 1977). The necessity of motivation in order to maintain children’s interest in art is accentuated by the usual weakening in self-esteem and interest in art which the kids start displaying during middle childhood. This weakening is linked with the children’s idea that their production should fulfil the principles of traditional practicality and that they do not possess the abilities of accomplishing this (Flannery & Watson, 1991). Nevertheless, comparable deteriorations in self-assessments of capabilities are commonly perceived in various subjects (Stipek & Maclver, 1989), and also the progressive weakening of student’s encouragement as they advance through school. In goal theory the advice is implied that teachers motivate students to follow individual imaginations of mastery more willingly than to work to impress outside assessors. This is a problem for regions like visual art where students should bear in mind the ultimate receiving of their performance (imaginative production) by an audience even as they try to focus on self-enhancement and mastery. This matter poses a problem to the art teachers who should make every day choices concerning the degree to which they will try to motivate students by emphasizing grades and the chance for exhibit of work. Art teachers are also caught up with the fact about whether art contests raise children’s concentration on spirited performance to the disadvantage of their assignment involvement and ability improvement. Parents and Art Education Parents can help their children in art education and not just rely on the institutions. They can encourage the children’s involvement in art when at home which can be done by encouraging art programs in the nearby society and also by assisting in making a decision as to how the school can teach the art. Parents can also turn out to be important speakers for developing art programs at schools. Parents can work along with the school staff, with the members of art societies, and also with other people. In this way they can ensure that art is being given a significant position in their children’s education plus in the society. There can be PTA meetings held that would emphasize on the importance of art education. In this way parent awareness concerning art education will be built. A very significant step that parents, and even rest of the people, can take is to back up education leaders and officers so as to sponsor the addition of art education in the syllabus. Every person can lead to a difference if he contacts these persons.