Arts cutbacks weaken education

“The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind— computer programmers who could crank out code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person— creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people— artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers— will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.”

— Daniel Pink, “A Whole New Mind”

Brace yourself, humanity, the 21st century belongs to the creative right-brainers. Too bad Southwestern College has not gotten the memo. As math, science, accounting and computer jobs are being shipped off to India, China and Brazil, right-brained thinkers with arts educations are on the ascent.

Many in the old guard stubbornly argue that in order to prepare students for life after community college, the visual and performing arts are not as important as math or English or any other traditional “core” classes. They are correct— the arts are way more important. Empirical research has consistently shown that arts education improves academic achievement, raises SAT scores, improves retention, improves completion rates, enhances memory, improves coordination and greatly improves concentration. And that is just the quantifiable stuff. Arts education also explores the most important of all human questions: How did we get here? Why are we here? What should we do with our existence?

Funding for SWC art classes has been drastically cut since the Chopra Era. Art professors have to literally scavenge the trash for supplies and beg for donations for materials. Theater faculty do small shows because there is not enough money for large ones (which SWC used to be famous for). SWC’s Mariachi Garibaldi— the best college mariachi on the planet, no fooling!— has been nearly grounded from its mission as college ambassador due to travel budget cuts.

Budget cuts may only be an excuse for our traditional-thinking, left-brain administration to tear down art sections because art cannot be “tested,” so it is not worth being offered. Our leaders need to realize how art is useful and important to students and change their attitudes before it is too late and our college becomes obsolete. SWC is already heading that way. Students taking only “core” classes should be required to learn Mandarin, Hindi or Portuguese and get a passport because their jobs won’t be in this country.

Many students attend SWC only for the excellent performing and visual arts classes. Maybe they know that SWC has sent thousands of students into successful careers as actors, singers, musicians, visual artists, designers, architects, writers and theatre technicians. SWC’s legendary painting alumni are world-renown from Chicano Park to Berlin. California’s most produced playwright is an SWC alumnus, as in the great J. Michael Straczynski, creator of “Babylon 5.” Straczynski has also written “Spider-Man” comic books and co-authored the “Thor” screenplay.

Some uninformed folks will say that what a student learns in art class is not useful in the real world. That Reagan-era propaganda has long been debunked. Also discredited is the cliché of the “starving artist.” Many of America’s top earners of 2012 were artists and creative people rewriting the old paradigms. Bruce Springsteen is not starving, nor is Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Lawrence or Stephanie Meyer.

Where did SWC get the design for the renovation of DeVore Stadium? Probably from an architect or designer who majored in art. Who designed the logo for our college? An artist. Landscape artists created the Botanical Garden and our beautiful grounds. Out in the real world right-brain thinking has a hand in everything, including business, marketing, building, design, training, medicine, biotechnology, sustainability and government. Whichever path a student chooses, art is a driver.

Our administration needs to recognize that arts education informs America’s future. Cutting art classes and funding is societal suicide. We do not want to be the next China, India or Brazil doing copy cat work and performing menial tasks. We need to be the next United States, the right-brained, creative, innovative U.S. of the 21st century.