On Balance: Schools Should Teach Fine Arts to the Students

Thank you for this wonderful debate, and I hope that we have many more in the future. I would first like to rebut my opponents points, and then I will move on to my conclusion. You previously stated: Art classes (Taught in school) are indeed a dictatorship, Dictatorship: absolute, imperious, or overbearing power or control." I would like to first agree with your definition of dictatorship. I do not see how posting the definition of something would rebut my point. I have shown that art classes are run by a teacher who is overbearing power and control, so therefore art classes are a dictatorship unless you prove it otherwise. You later stated: "Because schools are a place of learning it is obvious that the most recorded development in children's brains is in the middle of the day when the brain is most active, and because they are being taught. If children were to be taught in a different area at the same time, the levels would be just the same because the variables would not have been changed." Huh? How is this a rebuttal? What I was saying is that school is the most convenient place to learn music and since the arts benefits not only cognitive abilities but also social skills school will be the most logical choice to teach the arts. You later stated "These are seen consistently in the curriculum where teachers allow the students to use their imagination to make something original. By the way curriculum's are guidelines. Teachers can adapt their own. But since the curriculum is very intent on keeping creativity in the classroom it, by definition, goes against your dictatorship argument." This would be an incorrect assumption. This is because originality is what any person makes, so even if a student is forced to create an elephant drawing per say, it would be original as it is the students drawing. This is not to say that it would be the students best work, or an example of the students creativity because he was forced to draw it. Curriculum are indeed guidelines and the teachers can adapt their own interpretation of the curriculum, but what does not change is the point that there are assignments and work that must be done a certain way in a classroom to receive the highest marks, and that the student must do the work that the teacher assigns for them to do. Just because there is interpretation on the curriculum, does not mean that it is any less of a dictatorship. How can creativity be kept in a classroom where students are told what to make and what constitutes a good or bad drawing. If you view an example of an art rubric here [1], you can see that students are graded on how well they follow the directions. This would show that an art classroom is indeed a dictatorship, and students are told what to create. I will now attempt to clarify this point. I understand that what you were saying is that school is the most convenient place to learn the arts because of those benefits. What I had stated is that our brains are always the most active in the middle of the day, and that since we are in one place being forced to learn at that time, it is obvious that these benefits would exist. If school was in a different time of the day these benefits might not exist. So my point would be to say that these benefits cannot be directly correlated to school as if you were say being home-schooled at the same time, you would receive the same benefits. In rebutting this point I again must outline my stance on this: Well you should also then agree that the arts should be taught because the studies I have shown you prove the arts to be crucial in developing a better cognitive ability, creativity,social skills, self worth, and loads of other benefits. [2] As I have already stated, you cannot directly correlate these benefits to learning art in school to the fact that the location is at school, you can simply correlate them to the fact that the arts are learned by the student. This means that even if art was taught at home, you would receive these benefits, along with more time for more worthwhile subjects. My final rebuttal is on this point: "The performing arts industry in Canada generated $1.5 billion in operating revenues in 2012." [3] And in the U.S.A. arts contribute more to the economy than tourism! "In 2011, the production of arts and cultural goods and services employed 2.0 million workers and generated $289.5 billion in employee compensation in the form of wages, salaries and supplements." [4] I will begin by first stating that 1.5 billion in operating revenue is extremely low, as even the advertising industry, one of the smallest industries in Canada makes 7.0 billion. 2.0 million workers is also an extremely small amount, as agriculture and farming, which is an extremely small industry employs 8.0 million people.[6] Overall the arts are not a money producing sector. Overall the arts make little money for the government, they cost a fortune in supplies and teaching. The arts take our childcare's educational time and uses it for a course that is not going to be needed later in life, and is not going to be followed by the majority of students. Te benefits that my opponent stated the arts gives are in fact false, as I have proved above. Overall the arts are useless in our education system as they are being taught in a dictatorship and are not nurturing the students creative instincts. I would strongly encourage a vote against the resolution, as my opponent has attempted to insult my character and debating style, and has sued red herrings along with numerous other logical fallacies. My opponent has not taken this debate seriously from the beginning and has gone through great lengths to avoid rebutting my points logically, and has instead attempted to attack my method's not my points. As for me, my name is the name that you see on my profile, and I don't need to egotistically tell you my name at the end of the debate! Resources: [1]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com... [2]http://www.studentartguide.com... [3]http://www.statcan.gc.ca... [4]http://performingartsconvention.org... [5]http://www.statcan.gc.ca... [6]http://www.statcan.gc.ca...