It is worth noting that the participants in the survey talked about the difficulty to find employees, such as engineers, electricians, electronic technicians, technicians in general, salespersons and accountants – this in itself seems to be very odd, if we take into account that compared to previous decades, young people, in their majority, have nowadays turned towards sciences and studies in business administration/sales. 

Having in mind the recent news that art classes in the first and third grade of lyceum will be stricken off the syllabus, I couldn’t help but make the connection. In this article, I won’t be discussing the value of humanities, which, in any case, constitute the foundations for building thinking skills and science. I will only discuss the value of art classes.

Indeed, instead of supporting art classes (which, if my memory and age serve me right, would definitely be a first), by adding an interesting history of the arts, actual performance of music, and teachers with vision and creativity in the “teaching” of arts, and also by assigning more teaching time than a mere 45 minutes (it takes at least 15 minutes to set the scene for art classes, so who will take them seriously?), they end up being altogether removed from the syllabus for the first and third grades.

It’s true that art classes are regarded as a waste of time, and very often – thanks to the way they are “taught” – they attract the ridicule of children, not only in lyceum, but also in elementary school. However, contrary to popular belief, the support towards art education and the much-scoffed-at art classes is perhaps the most important thing for our education. We cannot know if art classes can or can’t fit in the lyceum syllabus, perhaps it is true that they can’t fit in all grades of lyceum – or maybe they can. What’s certain, however, is that they must be supported with a fresh framework that will convey the value of arts to children and inspire them, a framework that leaves no room for ridicule or doubt for the beauty of creative art and will bear no resemblance to the current state, a framework that will allow more time for art classes in the other grades of elementary school and gymnasium. And, for that matter, if they can’t be fitted into the weekly syllabus, why not promote art classes in lyceum as “optional study tracks”?

In short, art classes should be able “fit”… This article attempts to give an answer by stating a few reasons in favor of supporting art classes. Furthermore, this article may potentially help people who examine art classes in terms of usefulness, in its narrow, stale sense, to comprehend the value of art education.

The Default Mode Network in our brains

It has been found that a network of synapses exists in our brains, which we call the Default Mode Network (DMN) and which serves as the base for our cerebral functions. This network operates in the background of our cerebral processes and it is considered to be responsible for the processes of introspection, self-observation, internal dialogues, understanding of emotions, reveries and new ideas, and also with the ability to understand other people’s intentions and with our episodic and autobiographical memory. A pilot research conducted in 2014 on non-patient adults investigated the extent to which practical involvement with painting affects the default mode network; the research results demonstrated that the test group that took part in painting seminars for ten weeks presented a statistically significant increase in the activity of the default mode network in the period after the end of the seminars. It was also shown that the levels of mental resilience of participants – measured according to a special questionnaire for mental resilience – towards problems and adverse life events / developments also presented a statistically significant increase after the intervention of art seminars (Bolwerk, Mack-Andrick, Lang, Dörfler & Maihöfner, 2014).

Culture produces civilization

The positive impact of involvement with painting and visual arts in general in infancy and childhood is more or less known. While many of us feel that no research is necessary to determine the necessity of involvement with creative play in infancy and childhood, the research consensus is that creative play is explicitly necessary for the healthy development of children’s cognition, the understanding of the concept of coexistence with other people, the recognition of emotions and the socialization of children (for similar results and a very good literature review, see the research conducted by Ward, 2014). Nevertheless, if there are still people who doubt the degree to which creative play, painting, play-dough and clay, music, dancing, fairy tales and literature are important for children and grown-ups alike, then we have a problem.

A study example on this topic is a recent and very extensive research on elementary school and middle-school students in Houston, U.S.A., which showed that involvement with arts produced very significant results in the adaptation and social behavior of students, significant improvement in verbal skills and significant difference in the levels of compassion for other people (Bowen & Kisida, 2019). However, the research emphasizes in its report of results that the above positive results may be impossible if the initiative for promoting art classes lacks the vision and enthusiasm of their organisers.

When it comes to older children and adults, it suffices to point to the fact that there is a large amount of research showing that involvement and contact with the arts, either as creators or spectators, has a very significant impact on the physical and mental health of adults. Regardless of field, the research on the impact of art in health and physical well-being, thought and critical thinking, the ability to develop and marshal creativity in the context of everyday life, along with the overall effect of the arts, are very important as regards the social aspect of health, and its lack proves to be unfruitful and, over time, very costly (Rabkin & Hedberg, 2008).

Let’s just say that first of all, art creates, supports and promotes civilization between people. Few would disagree that civilized behavior refers to kindness and actions that take other people into consideration, while most of us are aware that our behavior and actions affect other people.

To give an example, a research conducted on a large group (1,341 participants) of adults from the general population (i.e. this study wasn’t limited to patients only) revealed that involvement with arts, either as creators or spectators, significantly reinforces how much people can enjoy social well-being and satisfactory interaction, demonstrate social consciousness and tolerance towards others, and most importantly, the degree to which people take others into consideration – in six words: how much they can be civilized (LeRoux & Benadska, 2014).

More specifically, this one-of-a-kind research showed that by participating in art events, even as spectators, or being engaged in handiwork, dance or acting in a theatrical play, people end up increasing – in terms of statistical significance – their “civic engagement”, as it is generally called. Moreover, the same research showed that by participating in art events as spectators and by devoting time for dancing or playing music, people show a similarly significantly increase in their altruistic emotions.

Despite the above, public expenditure for arts is very frequently the first to be cut, and shrink overtime. It seems, however, that these reductions are ultimately very costly in the middle term and very dangerous for the society in the long term.  

Having already said that culture produces civilization, the second important thing that needs to be said in this short article is that research in the field of the arts concludes that it is very important for drawing, painting and art classes in general, such as music or theater classes, to be available to all young and older children during their studies in elementary school, gymnasium and lyceum, because the attendance of art classes in school is a predictor for the degree to which students, as they grow up, will participate in art events in their adulthood.

It has been found that very important events are attended solely by adults who, in their younger years, participated in art classes and activities, and this conclusion is valid regardless of other factors considered for purposes of statistical analysis, such as gender, age and other demographic characteristics.

As regards the factor of age in particular, it would seem that contrary to popular belief, people do not participate in more artistic events and activities as time goes by and they mature into their middle and elderly years (Rabking & Hedberg, 2008); in other words, it appears that the principal factor is how extensive was their interaction with the arts at a younger age. It should be noted that unfortunately for us all, the U.S. Surveys of Public Participation in Arts (SPPAs) record a steady decline in the participation of adults in important artistic events, especially as regards classical music and jazz concerts, musicals, theatrical plays and classical dancing.

Art is for all

Although practical involvement with art requires a certain amount of talent, it also requires constant practice, learning and experience. Nevertheless, art is for all people, primarily because practical involvement with the arts is not associated with IQ scores.         

For example, the research by Winner & Drake (2018) revealed that talent in painting is not associated with IQ test scores and that children who exhibit an exceptional talent in painting from a very early age and children with no indications of talent in painting aren’t any different when it comes to their IQ test scores (after all, even from an evolutionary perspective, art came before science).

When it comes to constant “practice”, learning and experience with a subject, a relatively new research conducted on a group of artists who were professionally involved with drawing or painting revealed that, as it would be expected, the cerebral synapses associated with the practice of painting were much more proliferative in the group of professional artists than in the group of participants whose occupation was not associated with drawing or painting (De Pisapia, Bacci, Parrott & David Melcher, 2014).

From a methodological perspective, we are not currently able to discern the degree to which a person must have a “proclivity” towards art and the degree to which he or she must work hard to achieve a good result in a field of art; be that as it may, we often hear art teachers frequently say that the so-called “proclivity” or talent amounts to 1% - the remaining 99% amounts to the actual work that is needed. It could be that they must know something we don’t, so let’s just take their word for it… after all, they must be right, at least where the difference in the percentages is concerned. Back to the subject, if you are interested in research on how synapses in the brain evolve or grow according to our main occupation, you should check out the literature review by Heilman, Nadeau & Beversdorf (2003).

Involvement with art is associated with better performance in other school subjects

In general, research results conclude that a correlation exists between involvement with art classes in school and performance in other subjects; however, it hasn’t yet been found if involvement with arts is actually responsible for better performance in other subjects or which are the precise factors that intercede between the two. In any case, what’s certain is that infant and pre-school play activities that involve painting and music, along with participation in art activities and creative play, assist the untroubled and healthy development of the cognitive faculties in infants and children. As a consequence, the question whether involvement with arts alone assists a child in its school performance – and, of course, to what extent it provides such assistance – maybe isn’t all that important. In a similar manner, it isn’t of great importance to find whether performance in text comprehension is more dependent on arithmetic or spelling, or if biology grades depend on chemistry or physics grades, and other such things.

Public opinion

In closing, I would like to point out to the fact that opposite to state budgets, public opinion has a mind of its own. For example, in a research conducted in the United States on a large sample (3,020 participants), 88%, 90% and 89% of the participants replied that education in elementary, middle and high school, respectively, is necessary in order for children to benefit from a good, all-round education. Moreover, 83% of participants replied that involvement with the arts is important for children’s lives, both in and outside school, in the community.

A few interesting statistical facts

 > In all Surveys of Public Participation in Arts [SPPAs, 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2008], it was found that art education in a very early age leads 54% of students to attend at least one important art event in their adult years. Furthermore, if this education takes place during adulthood, this percentage skyrockets to more than 67%.

 > Education in art subjects during childhood is a good predictor for participation in education programs relevant to arts in adulthood.

 > In a research with participants who age was over 65 years, it was found that those who participated in choruses (ensemble singing) demonstrated significant improvement in their morale, reduction of the feeling of loneliness, increased activity, reduction of falling and visits in doctors.

 Photo by Nathan Glynn

“what I find wonderful about working with artists is that they are just as fascinated by side routes and diversions as they are by the direction in which they are going.” (Michael Doser, physicist on CERN’s cultural board for the arts, in  Koek, 2011).”

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