I have a quick answer for you on this one. It will make one a better human being.

Why? The study of fine arts requires one to experience, express, do, reflect, evaluate, empathize, and collaborate with others.

How? Shared experiences despite different perspectives can create an emotional bond especially in the performing arts.

When? As soon as possible and as long as possible. It’s never too late even if your a seasoned human pushing into their 6th decade

Where? Anywhere you can find a group of like minded people to share the arts with: Community theatre, art galleries, amateur music ensembles, specialized craft groups (wood turning for example.) Check with the library or your local chamber of commerce.

What? Anything. Write a poem, short story, paint a canvas, sculpt pottery, take private music lessons and practice 15-20 minutes a day (guitar, piano, etc.) Cook new foods (food can be an aesthetic experience.) More importantly do all of these with others if possible.

I started this blog to unload the 4.2 million ideas and things I think about and never express. I needed a creative outlet since the performing arts at the level I am accustomed to practicing has been harmed by tinnitus and hearing loss. After weeks of hemming and hawing my wife’s suggestion took hold and here we are. Then I started receiving suggestions… like reading a good book… these suggestions geminate new blogs…

Reflection is good for the soul. I am always looking back at my life’s journey and examining it from different lenses. This helps me own the errors and mistakes. Helps me move forward and then it helps me place modern events in context with the past. Past events have discouraged the study of the fine arts. Looking at some of our leaders, they could really use some serious studies in the humanities.

As a child of Generation X we lost an incredible amount of educational opportunities during the Reagan and Bush administrations. This pattern has continued through republican and democratic presidencies, and now that I am almost in my 3rd generation of teaching I see more and more how this has affected the evolution of our species at the social level. When A Nation at Risk was published in 1983 it set a wave of conservative reforms (unfunded mandates) that continue to this day. Other reforms that have followed include Goals 2000 (Clinton,) No Child Left Behind (Bush,) Common Core (Bush,) Race to the Top (Obama,) and the current voucher system being paraded by republicans, #45/#47 and the MAGA Nationalists.

In 1983 I was ending my freshman year in high school. Cuts in programs began in earnest. Vocational programs, specialized art, drama, and music programs were cut, and then non-revenue sports were eliminated. When I was in college, my elementary/middle school cut band (they brought it back, thankfully.) Many other schools cut programs entirely. Early in my career and then during No Child Left Behind (NCLB) I heard of urban and rural schools alike eliminating all of their elementary fine arts classes. The “specials,” a term I dislike consist of art, physical education, and general music. These basic building blocks for our fine arts culture were eliminated and millions of students were left with zero humanities experience.

This has resulted in nearly two generations of students unable to empathize with the people around them. Add the technology component of cell phones, tablets, laptops, social media, unlimited streaming, and the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine Act in 1987 you get a huge segment of the population emotionally underdeveloped and susceptible to false information.

Why study the fine arts? Well it doesn’t raise your test scores despite what the National Association of Music Merchants likes to peddle. It does teach you how to collaborate, empathize, and create something that is bigger than oneself in the creative sense. The fine arts teach you how to be a better human being (through community.) I don’t know the education of some of our politicians, but quite a few of them are unable to collaborate at a basic level. Their behavior is also infantile as they throw fits over not getting their way on the public stage. Those “reforms” have done marvels for the United States. Forty years of reforms by both parties to improve education through vigorous testing, STEM practices, 1 to 1 technology initiatives, unfunded mandates for curriculum practice, and vouchers have done nothing to improve schools. I feel they have tried to make them worse just to make them private and for profit. Kind of like the goal to privatize Social Security.

It’s time to reset education back to 1980 and restore all of the fine arts, culinary arts, and vocational arts back in the high schools. Yes, we still need English, Math, Science, Social Studies, etc. What good are the core subjects if the students don’t know how to properly relate to one another as humans? Need an example, #45, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, all of the rioters on January 6th. What if these people had the same supportive well rounded education without all the unfunded mandates like the older generation X and baby boomers had? Would we have shortages in welding, metal working, carpentry, electrical, heating/air, plumbing, or even a teacher shortage throughout education?

Let’s face it folks, 40 years of education defunding and misinformation hasn’t worked. It’s time to go back and reset the educational paradigm by bringing back the ARTS! We need to bring back the process of being better humans, and our conservative governance is not helping anyone be a better human.

Want a symphony orchestra? broadway play? opera? art? electrician? plumber? welder? woodworker? a generation that can cook? There’s your why for studying the fine arts.

Want better politicians serving the public rather than the greedy? There’s your why for studying the fine arts.

Want to see a large group of people commune together like a large family… Go to a fine arts event. There’s your why for studying the fine arts…

…as the world turns…

Thank you J.D.!