Fine Arts Education for Gifted Children (page 3)

Frequently, when school resources are limited, arts education funding is reduced or eliminated. Proponents of such cuts defend the action by referring to the arts as a valuable but non-essential element of an educational program designed primarily to develop basic skills. NAGC maintains that arts education is fundamental to an excellent basic education for all students and to an appropriately challenging curriculum for gifted students.

Arts education generally provides learning experiences through the art forms of music, visual art, theater, and dance. These experiences develop within students understandings of key arts principles of

• history-with abilities to inquire into the contributions artists and art make to society and culture,
• criticism-with abilities to make judgments about qualities and properties found in art forms,
• aesthetics-with abilities to make personal and sound decisions about works of art, and
• production-with abilities to participate in the arts and to produce personal works of art with skill and creativity.

The goal of arts education is to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to understand and communicate clearly within their personal, community, and cultural environments. Schools with well-supported arts education also often report enhanced reading, writing, and math skills; improved critical and creative thinking; and increased commitment to learning, and heightened multicultural understanding.

Arts education can benefit artistically gifted students by introducing them to the multiple possibilities for expression with the arts, educating them in the skills of perception, production, and performance, and opening gateways to the various career paths in the arts. As well, arts education can benefit academically gifted students by increasing the complexity and rigor of the curriculum, promoting extensive use of a variety of problem-solving strategies, heightening student motivation to pursue a topic of interest in depth, and developing rich skills in communicating with varied audiences.