How Art Improves Education

Art can be and should be integrated into all subjects.

by: Bobby Scott, headmaster EMERITUS

The blog below was written by Headmaster Emeritus Bobby Scott in the early years of Perimeter School describing the foundation of our school’s heart for the arts.

How the Arts Improve Education

Years ago, I was at a meeting of educators, and one of them commented on the quality arts program at Perimeter School. As so many of us do, I realized that his kind words were about an emphasis that I too often take for granted. Fran Osborne, our librarian at the time, passed an article from Education Digest on to me that cited a study showing the improvement in test scores in core subjects in schools that strongly emphasize art education. In one school system, scores increased overall by 12.3% when art education was integrated into all academic subjects, with math scores having the greatest increase … 61% over five years!

In reflecting on these findings, I couldn't help remembering the emphasis that Charlotte Mason required of teachers in the early part of the 20th century: the study of the great paintings and paintings of treasures from nature. When we first began an increased emphasis on art across the curriculum, my hope was that children who did not learn in "traditional" ways would be enriched and encouraged, able to transfer the skill of looking at art to other areas. I believe this is happening at Perimeter School.

Not that art has to be justified by its positive effect on the core subjects, but there will always be those concerns in education that we cannot emphasize the "basics" if students spend too much time on art, music, or drama. It should not be an "either-or." Art can be and should be integrated into all subjects.

At Perimeter School, the outstanding Arts Festival serves to elevate and inspire. Picture Study and Nature Study serve to increase observation skills and enrich lives through examining beauty. The illustrated graphs, cartoons, book illustrations, models, projects, and posters - found in subjects through the eighth grade - also serve to pull subjects together into a meaningful whole. Writing about artwork, expressing the emotions of an illustration, understanding a scientific principle by use of art prints, seeing a math concept through a visual aid - all these methods are proven to improve education.

So maybe our ideas are not so old-fashioned after all!

I am so grateful for our teachers who make the extra effort and sacrifice necessary to include the arts in their teaching. Indeed, the basics are not sacrificed but enhanced!

Valuing the arts is just one of the many ways our Perimeter School teachers enhance the educational experience for our students. We are so thankful for the many ways our teachers pour into our students academically, spiritually, socially, and emotionally.

Don’t miss your chance to invest in the people who impact our students’ lives so significantly. This year’s Perimeter School Benefit proceeds will go toward accelerating Perimeter School teacher and staff salaries so that we can retain and recruit the highest qualified personnel for educating students and equipping and encouraging covenant families.

Bidding for the Benefit Auction is now open! You can bid on/purchase items ahead of this Saturday’s event here.