Letters to the Editor

More reasons for arts

May 8, 2008 4:47 PM

To the Editor:

In addition to the reasons cited by UFT Vice President Leo Casey for the need to continue funding and providing arts education to New York City’s public school students, a few more must be noted.

Harvard Prof. Howard Gardner, who researched and published “Multiple Intelligences,” outlines very clearly the many different kinds of learning modes that come into play and determine how children learn. The academic mode is but a part of the whole picture, a picture made up of multiple intelligences (which include the arts).

The College Board did a study some years ago in which it determined that students who spent four or more years in high school studying one or more of the arts did better than students who did not on their College Board exams, both verbal and mathematic.

No scientist ever invented anything without the right side of the brain kicking in to work in conjunction with the left (the left side being the scientific/mathematical side, while the right is the creative side). Our brains are composed of two sides for many obvious reasons. Neglecting one side in favor of the other does nothing to help our students. In fact, it creates the opposite effect (much of which is in evidence in our student body today).

New York City is still the arts capital of the world. People come here from every part of the planet to partake of the arts offerings of our city. I used to tell my students that if they didn’t participate in the arts while living here they might as well live in the middle of nowhere. The arts enrich our lives in the most incredible ways. To avoid them is not only negligent, but onerous.

Vivian Bergenthal, retired