Importance of Art in Education
Creativity and imaginative are two very powerful virtues of human character. The creativity and imaginative of students can be developed through the art education. Lack of art education in schools, colleges and universities diminishes a student’s chance to acquire creative and imaginativeness. Art is an important skill for students in their educational and practical life to learn and experience the world differently from the general public and it inculcates the power to create something good for humanity that may be remembered for centuries to come, in this way art has the potential to make an intelligent artist, immortal. It is a sad reality that millions of people die every year in the world, without truly and boldly expressing themselves, the art education saves a student from this sad saga. The art education seems imperative for every student no matter what are his or her majors. The experts propose that science students should take some art courses.
Aesthetics describes notions such as the beautiful and the ugly, being the very basic element of art education; the art students form their definitions of the beautiful and the ugly. Aesthetics increase the social learning and integration of students. It increases the observation power of the art students. The impacts of art and aesthetics are not confined to the social lives of the students; this has positive impacts on their professional lives. Their families and friends also get its benefits (Arslan, Asuman). The worthiness of theoretical and practical art courses cannot be overemphasized. However, it may be noted that the theoretical part should not be preferable over the practical one as it has been the case in some art institute. The best approach would be to give more preference to theory in the start and then keep on gradually increase the practical courses as the students become conversant with theory. This approach will produce a student with the sound theoretical knowledge and very fine practical skills. Overall, this combination will make the art students more connected with their social environment. It can go a long way in making them better citizens and help them in their family and work relationships (Arslan, Asuman).
The art education is also very conducive for little children in their early education and learning developments. Experts have the established opinion since long that the little children may be encouraged to create artwork on their own, no matter what is its quality or magnitude. They also propose that the little children may be encouraged to enjoy and admire the artwork of others. The optimum combination of both these methodologies will be the most conducive way to make the students excel in their early education and their advanced education. The little children that are provided ample opportunities to create and admire the artwork, often experience that creativity and imaginativeness have become their second nature. The benefits of this early childhood investments are huge as compared to the cost and time involved in it (Korn, Carol).
The proper art education in the early childhood has a positive impact on their social, cognitive and motor abilities. The artwork involves the social depiction of local and other cultures, religions, languages, and countries; it makes them aware of the diversity and versatility of the world around them. In this way, their social adaptability increases and in the modern conflict-ridden world this social adaptability is a huge advantage of the early childhood education.
The young children learn to express themselves and to communicate in a positive and effective manner. The power to express themselves go a long way to making them better communicator in their social and professional lives. The youngster becomes more social as they visit art exhibition and workshop. They learn the power of networking, an essential tool to make them excel in their professional lives.
The young children enjoy crayon, color pencils, water colors and oil paints; they have to use the maximum of selected media and at the same time they have to make a selection wisely, in this way they learn the vital skills of decision making. The art education has huge positive impacts on analysis, critical thinking and decision-making skills of the art students. If the young children are lucky enough to have a good teacher and conducive learning environment the art education in the early years will help them in a great way to reap its benefits over their whole life. The happy story does not end here, the positive impacts and benefits are transferred to their next generation in one way or the other. If these little students become art teacher themselves, later in their lives the impacts of art education are even huge on next generation. The history has many examples where young students have created brilliant masterpieces of art.
The technology and especially the information technology has dramatically altered the art education both in early childhood and in colleges and universities. The students now use tablets and other electronic devices for the theoretical and practical artwork. The experts are divided on the utility and effectiveness of these modern devices. In one way these devices increase the speed of cognitive learning and provide the art students with huge resources that include the online libraries and repositories.
The humanities sciences experts have believed since long that art has therapeutic properties, there are modern researches that prove this old viewpoint. There have been records of work of arts in ancient healing centers in Roman and Greek civilizations. The modern studies have proved that when a person visualizes the work of art he or she uses the right side of his or her brain. The studies have also proved that the right side of the brain is also used to store memories, it makes a positive connection between work of art and pleasant memories. The art can help the person with stress and emotional strain. The education and work of art can go a long way in increasing the innovative powers of the brain, the right side that is stimulated by viewing the work of art also used before spoken language develops. In this way, art and art education helps the people to become more and more expressive. The power to self-express is very vital power of human beings; it helps them to release tension, reduce depression levels and ease the burden on nerves. As the students learn art skills at early ages, they learn to control their emotions. It helps them to make their personality more balanced and composed (Karkou, Judy).
The work of art and art education helps the children and young students to control fear; its exact science is still unknown, but it is an intelligent guess that it may be due to the power of self expression and social coherence attained due to art and its education (Karkou, Judy). As the art class starts in institutions, the students share the art stationery; color pencils, markers, papers, watercolors and oil paints; it promotes the sense of sharing among students. In art class children and young students learn from each other, and they teach each other, it promotes the sense of social learning and knowledge sharing.
The work of art and art education helps the students to treat anxiety and promote a sense of autonomy. Some students experience that their tension is released as they draw the artwork. The self-expression may be the reason, and it may be due to the admiration the artist gets when he or she draws well. The artist who work independently enjoys the feeling of autonomy. They feel that they are in control, and its positive impacts are also felt in their lives beyond the artwork. Sometimes the artist is under pressure to complete their academic or professional assignments of art in a very short time, in this way the art and its education inculcate resilience in the students and artists. The benefits of this art education can be applied in other areas of education and work.
The role of artwork and art education in the development of leadership skills cannot be overemphasized. The students and children learn to make the selection of colors and other tools; they decide when to use water colors and when oil paints will work better than other tools. They decide about the techniques; they decide which message will be expressed well through the abstract art and when the abstract art will not work well. The artist tries to inspire the world through his or her artwork, and inspiration is an essence of leadership. The artist with good theoretical and practical knowledge of arts can motivate society through his work. There have been examples where artists have spread the message of action and conservation through the artwork. There are artists that have spread the environmental awareness; they have stressed the cause to reduce greenhouse gasses emission. There have been art campaigns on global warming and solid waste reduction. It is a huge contribution of art to education and society; it is expected that as the time passes the artist will raise their voice for the cause of environment.
The importance of art in education and life has been discussed in detail, the views of experts have been analyzed at length, there is no second opinion that the art plays very important role in education and life. It benefit are not limited to individual, the whole society, and world reaps its benefits. The art students can apply the skills gained in art classes to other subjects and areas of life. The art and it education helps a person to release stress, express his or her emotions, take charge of his or her life and actions. The art and its education go a long way in making students better citizens with a sense of social inclusion with better coherence with society and environment. It helps them to face the challenges of life in a better way.
