Advocacy!

 -Jerome Kagan "Why the Arts Matter"

http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=21740

 Six reasons: 1) Boosts self confidence for the students who are behind in the mastery of reading and arithmetic. 2) Helps the middle-class children who have been infantilized by overprotective parents who were excessively concerned with the child’s grades and talent profile. 3) The mind uses three distinct forms, or tools, to acquire, store, and communicate knowledge. 4) Opportunity to provide all American youth with some values they feel warrant consistent loyalty. 5) Allows a number of children to work as a cooperative unit when they compose a mural or play in the school band or orchestra. 6) Art and music provide opportunities for all children to experience and to express feelings and conflicts that are not yet fully conscious and cannot be expressed coherently in words.

"I suspect that if American teachers devoted one hour each day to art or music, or even one hour two days a week, the proportion of youth who dropped out of high school might be reduced. Moreover, the child’s products would provide parents of failing children with an opportunity to praise children rather than criticize them for laziness." - Jerome Kagan

-Fran Smith "Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best"

http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development

*When children are involved in the arts it is also associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking and verbal skills. *When involved with the arts it can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.

"If they're worried about their test scores and want a way to get them higher, they need to give kids more arts, not less," says Tom Horne, Arizona's state superintendent of public instruction. "There's lots of evidence that kids immersed in the arts do better on their academic tests."

<span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">"The Benefits of the Study of Music"

<span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.menc.org/documents/temp/benefits_of_music.pdf

<span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*"Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts." <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*Can cause: Success in society, success in school and learning, success in developing intelligence, and success in life <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*Kids needs an education in music because music is a part of the fabric of our society <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*Schools with music programs have significantly higher graduation rates. <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*Students in high-quality school music programs score higher on standardized tests compared to students in schools with deficient music education programs. <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*Students of music continue to outperform their non-arts peers on the SAT according to reports by the College Entrance Examination Board. <span style="color: #ef15a4; font-family: Georgia,serif;">*"Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge for connection with others."