Giving Compass' Take:

• Sir Ken Robinson is arguing that dance and theatre programs have a positive impact on children's' social, emotional, and educational skills and they should be valued just as much as other academic programs.

• Does your local school system incorporate dance or other arts education programs into their lessons? Should arts education (and dance specifically) be valued just as much as other academic programs?  How can funders help?

• Read about how organizations are using dance and theatre programs to help children cope with social issues. 

I’m not arguing against mathematics — it’s an indispensable part of the great creative adventure of the human mind. It’s also intimately involved with the dynamics of dance. Instead, this is an argument for equity in educating the whole child. I’m talking about the equal importance of dance with the other arts, languages, mathematics, sciences and the humanities in the general education of every child.

Many forms of dance, including ballroom, are inherently social. In an evaluation of Dancing Classrooms in New York City, 95 percent of teachers said that as a result of dancing together, there was a demonstrable improvement in students’ abilities to cooperate and collaborate. In a survey in Los Angeles, 66 percent of school principals said that after being in the program, their students showed an increased acceptance of others.

A panel of researchers in kinesiology and pediatrics conducted a massive review of more than 850 studies about the effects of physical activity on school-age children. Based on strong evidence in a number of these categories, the panel firmly recommended that students should participate in one hour (or more) of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day. Looking specifically at academic performance, the panel found strong evidence to support the conclusion that “physical activity has a positive influence on memory, concentration and classroom behavior.”

Would it be okay to have millions of students without access to math or language arts? “Of course not, and it should not be tolerated in the arts.  We don’t teach math solely to create mathematicians, and we don’t teach writing solely to create the next generation of novelists. The same holds true for the arts. We teach them to create well-rounded citizens who can apply the skills, knowledge and experience from being involved in the arts to their careers and lives.”

Read the full article about arts education by Sir Ken Robinson at TedEd.