Rosaria posted:

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I would argue that the reason students are so ill-prepared for life is because of the absence of art, literature, and music in their core curriculum. Brain stimulation happens on a variety of levels, and the human brain is not fully developed until ages 18-21 years of age. Cognitive and perceptual development is not solely based on how well one does in math and science but also includes how well one is taught how to think, how to appreciate, and how to extend oneself into multiple arenas. Entire regions of interest and development are literally lobbed off when music and art are eliminated from a student's educational experience. In terms of how well our country and its people function globally, we are poor at producing people who can innovate and problem-solve. We can't compete as long as we are producing entire cities whose adult population is functionally illiterate. I consider art and music vitally essential to how we adjunctively educate our children both in terms of stimulation and overall well-being. We can't afford not to.

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Yukishiro1 posted:

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I'm not sure the science behind it is all that solid, frankly. But teachers unions love it because it means more teachers hired which means more union dues.

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