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Americans Believe the Arts Are an Important Part of Society and Education

Americans Believe the Arts Are an Important Part of Society and Education



A recent survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of LifeWTR shows that many Americans believe the arts are an important part of the education system, whether in elementary school (90%), middle school (93%), or high school (92%) – and eight in ten say it is important for adults to continue to have access to arts education outside of school (80%). Among an oversample of adults who are defined as being ‘culturally curious’, even more emphasis is placed on the importance of the arts in the education system.To get more news about importance of art in history, you can visit shine news official website.
Americans believe an arts education is equally important to society today (79%) as it was ten to fifteen years ago (78%) and that it will remain an important part of society ten to fifteen years in the future (77%). Support for the continued value of an arts education is backed up by 91% of Americans who believe the arts are a vital part of a well-rounded education for K-12 students. Furthermore, 84% of Americans believe that arts and STEM subjects complement each other well.
Despite this support, the outlook for an arts education is not entirely positive. Eighty percent of Americans agree that arts education is not as valued as it used to be and 71% percent of parents report that their children have less access to arts in school due to budget cuts. Even though 93% of Americans believe finding a creative outlet is important for all ages, most adults still report that today’s fast paced world sometimes makes it difficult to take a moment to themselves (86%) and that as they get older they find themselves prioritizing taking time to be creative less often (70%).
Culturally curious parents appear more likely to enroll their child in schools that provide a stronger artistic education. Sixty-nine percent of American parents report that their students often or sometimes have the opportunity to explore creative exercises in school compared to 80% of culturally curious parents. Likewise, 67% of parents report that their children often or sometimes bring art projects home compared to 77% of culturally curious parents. Lastly, just 44% of all parents report that their children often or sometimes have field trips to visit art museums through their schools while 64% of culturally curious parents report the same opportunities for their children.
Among the core curriculum subjects taught in schools, reading (98%), math (97%), technology (96%) and science/engineering (96%) are seen as being the most important. At least nine in ten also believe it is important for schools to incorporate trade skills (93%) and social studies/history (90%) into school curriculums. The arts (81%) and languages (89%) fall slightly in importance among the general population, although culturally curious Americans are more likely to report these subjects as important with 95% among this group saying teaching languages is important and 89% reporting the arts as important. Women (86% vs. 76% of men) and those with a college degree (84% vs. 79% of those with no degree) are also more likely to stress the importance of the arts as an academic subject.
Despite the arts being reported as a slightly less important school subject, Americans identify it as an important subject for developing skills such as creativity (95%), communication (82%), collaboration (81%), and social skills (80%). More quantitative skills such as critical thinking (78%) or problem solving (73%) are also seen as being developed through the arts, but not as easily as some others. Culturally curious Americans are more likely to believe that the arts are impactful in developing these quantitative skills, including 84% who feel the arts help to develop critical thinking and 82% who say the same for problem solving. A similar trend is seen among Millennials, where greater proportions see the arts as helping to develop skills such as collaboration (85% vs. 78% of Baby Boomers), social skills (82% vs. 77%), and problem solving (76% vs. 69%).
Two thirds of Americans believe that without arts education, students will not be as prepared for the jobs of the future (64%) – and this jumps to 75% among the culturally curious. Among those who are employed, skills such as communication (97%), problem solving (96%), critical thinking (95%), social skills (94%), collaboration (93%), and creativity (83%) – all of which are rated as being positively impacted by arts education – are considered important to being successful in their career.
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