Why Is Art Important?

I was doing my regular check up on Michigan Art Education Standards and Benchmarks and was very happy with what I found!!  First, the art curriculum has been broken down by grade level and is more specific.  I believe it is more applicable to each grade level and has higher expectations of our students.  Second, there are multiple documents about why art is important.  Here is a poll that I found interesting and intriguing.  All of this information can be found on the Michigan Department of Education website.  Check it out!

A May 2005 Harris Poll on the attitudes of Americans toward arts education, commissioned by Americans for the Arts, revealed strong public support. Among the findings:
93%agree 
the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded
education for children, a 2% increase over 2001.
86%agree 
an arts education encourages and assists in
the improvement of a child’s attitudes toward school.
83%believe 
that arts education helps teach children to
communicate effectively with adults and peers.
79%agree 
incorporating the arts into education is the first step in adding back what’s missing
in public education today.
54%rated 
the importance of arts education
a “ten” on a scale of one to ten.
79%believe 
that it’s important enough for them to get personally involved in increasing the amount
and quality of arts education. 

Please support the arts!!!