The Importance of Art

"Tax dollars should not be wasted on art, music, or theater classes in high school. Public high schools should be about training young people to enter the workforce. Period."

Art in public high schools is an important part of the school system and school curriculum. These classes allow for students that don't feel like they have a place in sports or in academia, to have a "home" to express their ideas and feelings. These classes foster a sense of creativity that can translate into other subjects that the students have to learn. Art, music, theater classes allow for more self-expression and self-confidence that students need for things like job interviews and job applications than many of the "core" subjects. These classes, in some ways, prepare the students for the workforce more so than the math, science, and history classes they are forced to take throughout their high school career. 

Art can translate into jobs in the workforce. Many students aspire to be animators, actors, singers, video game designers, and graphic designers. All these jobs start with a love for one main thing: Art. High school is a time where everyone is deciding on who they want to be and those who choose art as their life's direction, decide so in high school. Society relies on these artists to create, in the workforce, new concepts for the entertainment or enjoyment of others. If there is no art classes to inspire the students during the most critical time in their lives to express themselves and share their creativity with the world, then there would be no new musicians, no new actors in no new movies, no new video games or new consoles to play said games on. So the removal of these classes would not only affect the students themselves, but their families and the world around them as well.

Tax dollars are not being wasted on the art programs in public high schools. They are gifting the students with opportunities to find a place to belong, express their ideas and translate that into a lifetime of something that is not only enjoyed by them, but also by everyone around them. Art classes give training for the workforce in a way that is engaging and enjoyable for the students and the schools themselves.