Top reasons more parents are enrolling their kids in art classes for children – words Alexa Wang
Today, more than ever before, more parents are flocking to enroll their kids in art classes for children. Those parents of budding Picassos and Rembrandts know that they must foster that spark of interest to help their kids develop their art skills themselves.
Budget cuts strike school arts programs across America
Unfortunately, we are at a pivotal crossroads in American education. Schools are faced with exploding populations of kids and an insufficient budget to cover education. This statistic is even grimmer in most rural pockets across the nation. They especially are unable to cover the cost of a broad spectrum of arts programming, much to the chagrin of parents.
As a consequence of these budget cuts, arts programming falls to the wayside. Schools are bidding bye-bye to disciplines like music, painting, sculpting, and the dramatic arts.
Perhaps what is sadder yet, is that by discarding these programs, school officials are wasting an opportunity to raise a generation of open-minded thinkers who can collaborate and embrace global-thinkers. Yes, they are tossing aside the next generation of world leaders.
We reached out to painter and art teacher Amanda Lee Jones to confirm our suspicions that today’s youngest artists are tomorrow’s business leaders. What we found out is eye-opening.
Art lessons teach three essential leadership skills
Since we are presenting the argument that young art students are the future global leaders, let’s explore some of the leadership skills learned in art class for children.
1 – A widened, global view
Imagine that you gather a group of talented young sculptors into a circle around a human form. Then, you give them a glob of clay to shape. You will receive different end products from each of the participants at the end of the session.
Some will remain right on center and sculpt the front of the form. Others will sculpt right or left views. Still others will render a back view.
None of these young talents is wrong in his or her perspective. It’s a matter of from which spot they perch as they are working with their clay. The result is an acceptance of diverse outcomes based on unique points of view.
Isn’t that a beautiful thing?
2 – Ability to accept input from others
The best leaders in the world surround themselves with wise councel. They seek opinions from their trusted advisors before making decisions and examine possible outcomes before setting a course.
That’s not unlike art. Along the journey of creating a painting, an art student in a group class will pause and ask advice or for an opinion from an instructor or a peer. Then, before picking their brush back up, they will consider how the painting is shaping up and how they can take actions to improve upon the final piece.
These are sound analysis skills at their most natural. And, that sounds like much-needed skills for tomorrow’s leaders.
3 – Plus, the ability to kindly issue input to others
Not only are leaders surrounded by advisors, but they are also asked to issue feedback to others. Their opinions influence the actions and behaviors of others, and that is a powerful responsibility!
Just as world leaders issue advice to their counterparts, our young artists dispense constructive criticism to others in their art class.
They learn to shape their language as seamlessly as they develop their artwork. Indeed, they know firsthand that artists are personally invested in their projects, so they learn to employ words that are not accusatory or demeaning. They focus on positive rather than punitive language and offer input on how to improve instead of focusing on the negative.
If only all of our world leaders used this same tact, the world would be a kinder place to live!
The Bottom Line
Even as schools feel compelled to slash their art budgets to practically nil, the demand for the skills fostered through art classes for children rises.
Today, more than ever before, we should focus on raising kids to compete in a global economy and collaborate with individuals across all races, religions, and cultures. The internet has shrunk the globe in a virtual sense, and the demand for leadership from our younger generation will continue to climb.
Parents now rely on private art classes; and, those parents who embrace this trend are the parents of future leaders.
