We exist in an environment that is filled with the artifacts of human history architecture, painting, and sculpture. Art History offers the tools to recognize and to understand these forms, and thus is a vital part of any serious liberal arts education.
Art History provides knowledge and understanding of the past, and through it, of the present.
The discipline encourages humanity and sympathy by teaching about other individuals and societies through their visual expression. Art History provides intellectual confidence gained through learning how to recognize, order, and interpret facts. In so doing, it trains one to think and write clearly and to read carefully. Art History instruction at the secondary school level is sporadic, but common enough for the Educational Testing Service to offer an Advanced Placement exam in the discipline. Nevertheless most students have not been exposed to Art History in high school.