Every child has the innate urge and capacity to be artistically expressive.
Arts education requires students to draw upon their creative abilities and to deepen them, as well. The benefit is that creative thinking, once learned early, lasts for a lifetime and can be applied in other endeavors. The process of studying and creating art in all of its distinct forms defines those qualities that are at the heart of education reform in the 1990 s creativity, perseverance, a sense of standards, and above all, a striving for excellence. U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley Total creativity measures were four times higher for elementary students in an arts curriculum than for the control groups in two Ohio school districts. Gains were maintained and continued to improve in a second year evaluation.