Dear President Obama,

The future of our youth is in danger. Too many arts and music programs are being cut out of schools. This may seem trivial at first, but please listen to my cause.

Arts and music have always been part of our forever-growing history. If those are lost, we all lose a part of ourselves with them. Times are rough with the economy nowadays. If arts and music programs are put back into schools, more jobs could stem from them and help the country become finically stable again. The arts are not just for artists, musicians, writers, etc. If one thinks long and hard about it, math and music go hand-in-hand. First, there are the basics. Math requires counting to function. Music uses counting and basic math to assemble itself together like legos. Each note is split up into fractions. If music and math are taught together, students would understand both like they were second nature to them. Plus, if music is played early in life, students have a greater chance of succeeding in math. Those who listen to music can grasp mathematical concepts quicker that those who don’t. Taking music out of school increases more problems with math in students.

The arts and music programs are not just for jobs and the economy. If there are more programs dedicated to the arts, more kids are likely to stay out of trouble. It is a known fact that if kids are involved with after-school programs, they are less likely to get into trouble with the law. Think of how the benefits double if some of those after-school programs involved arts and music. The kids would not only stay out of trouble, they would also develop of a creative side that they would need later in life as well. As I have stated before, music and arts help stimulate the brain. Every day, some form of art or music is used to help teach a subject in a classroom. Sesame Street, School House Rock, and the Magic School Bus all use art and music of some form to help teach kids of their ABC’s, science, grammar, and other subjects needed for education. Arts and music seem to provide a kind of hook that creates a lasting memory in one’s brain to help him learn. Without the arts, people would seem to have a harder time remembering math, English, or any other subject for that matter.

The arts are not just beneficial for school and educational development. They can also assist with a person’s personal life as well. The arts and music programs instill motivation into the youth. If a child has dreams for a bright future, she needs the inspiration to push her along to achieve her dreams. Arts and music programs in schools are one way to do that. A student can participate in them and feel free to express herself. In return, she rises up to the challenge of making themselves a better citizen. Without arts and music programs in schools, kids will turn wayward and not really accomplish much in their lives. Motivation is not the only thing that the arts help out with in life. Like everything else in life, arts and music require teamwork to help them function. A symphony is like a piece of machinery in a factory. Inside, there are many pieces of equipment to help it work the way it is designed to work. Without one single part of the equipment, the machinery will not function properly. That is true for all things in life. The arts help students learn how to work together as a unit. Even the military and business trips use creative exercises to teach their subordinates about working together. These exercises would not exist without the arts in schools.

Arts and music also assist with stress relief. If a kid is having a bad day a school, he will most likely turn on the radio or IPod to play some song that they likes in order to feel better again. The song that he plays had to come from somewhere. Most likely, it came from a school that taught the musician to play it. The arts give students something to do when they are stressed or bored. As a result, potentially beautiful masterpieces are born for the whole world to see. They do not have to be as great as a composer Chopin or painter Monet. But if the artists who created the art feel great about themselves afterwards, then that is one of the best feelings in the world. The arts even help to build bridges between people. Different styles of art and music seem to bring people closer together. With more arts and music programs in schools, communication, friendships, and maybe even love can be born and/or become even stronger as a result. No man is an island after all. The arts seem to support that belief as well.

However, these arts and music programs are vastly being cut from schools every day. Why is that? One reason is because of our failing economy. Schools are trying to cut out programs just to save money so that they can survive and help improve the next generation. The problem is the arts and music programs are paying the price. Now, I can understand needing the money to help in all other areas in the schools. But why should it be the arts and music programs that end up being sacrificed to make ends meet? It is has come to my attention that nine times out of ten, sports programs in schools rank higher than the arts do. Now, I am not suggesting something radical such as cutting the sports programs instead of arts and music. That would be an unrealistic solution to the growing problem in our schools. I am rather offering a notion to find a stable balance between both programs for the youth of the future.

Kids need the arts as much as the rest of their education. Cutting out arts and music programs from schools only hurts our future in the long run. We cannot afford to lose our past, present, and future one school at a time. We need more arts in our lives to help turn things around in our recovering country. Please take this argument to heart and help save our arts and history from being lost with time.

Sincerely, Victoria O'Neal