"Education for work and education for life should be inextricably linked, with the arts in a connecting role."
American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) spent a large part of her career championing the idea that the line of distinction between so-called ‘academic’ subjects and arts subjects is a false dichotomy. She observed that the process of making art uses all the skills that are necessary to grasp literacy and numeracy: identifying patterns, structures, thinking about scale and perspective, close observation, the process of describing, questioning, imagining, problem-solving. Here she works with a student at the public arts high school, 1993. Photo by Tom Wachs
"Last month the Gulbenkian Foundation published a report The Arts in Schools: Foundations for the Future, in which they made a strong evidence-based case for the benefit that teaching art, drama, music and dance to schoolchildren brings to productivity and the economy as well as to society more broadly. The authors argue that integrating the arts into the curriculum can help children understand STEM subjects more effectively. The arts also help children to develop relational thinking and empathy towards others, building the groundwork for stronger social cohesion. By enriching our human experience the arts have the potential to make us happier, healthier and more whole. And they reinstate the idea that education for work and education for life should be inextricably linked, with the arts in a connecting role." - Dr. Victoria Powell
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