“In recent years, states’ education budgets have shortchanged art and music in an effort to build up science and math programs,” writes Steve Terrell in Saturday’s (7/21) Santa Fe New Mexican. “But at least one governor, speaking in a panel discussion Saturday [at] the National Governors Association conference in Santa Fe, said that wasn’t wise. ‘We made a mistake in squeezing down our budgets for arts and music,’ … Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said…. ‘Any time you keep a kid in school because of arts, that’s a good thing,’ he said.… ‘If we have visitors coming to our home state,’ said Gov. Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, ‘the first thing we want to do is showcase our arts … take them to a concert or … a museum.’ … The arts contribute more than $763 billion to the national economy…. Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association and head of the organization’s foundation, [said] high school students who take music classes are 52 percent more likely to graduate on time … and their average GPA is 15 percent higher than the average GPA for those who don’t take music classes.”
Posted July 25, 2018
