ARED 335 Wed. April 12

Why is art important on the elementary level? Today (along with hands on activities on weaving and discussions about how the young start to draw), we were given some very significant handouts. One was a list about why the Arts are important. Among this list of fifteen items, one caught my eye, (number 8): "They develop both independence and collaboration." This is something that I have felt strongly about especially in the field of music. The other handout (which used music as an example) reiterated and enforced this idea by stating that, "The arts provide a natural place for learning to work in groups." So why is this important to me? I feel that society is not getting any smaller and the sooner we all learn to work together, the better off we will be.