why we need arts and humanities essay

why we need arts and humanities essay

The Importance of Arts and Humanities

1. Introduction

The importance of arts and humanities goes beyond enhancing knowledge and improving the learning environment. The intrinsic value of the arts and humanities in education is widely recognized and incorporates the teaching of values, understanding, and the development of analytical and critical thinking skills. This is directly related to the understanding and analyzing of history, literature, religions, etc., which are all part of the humanities. The arts for recent decades show to be developmental in higher order thinking. High schools are including art into the curriculum as this helps with the development of motor skills, language, social skills, decision making, risk taking, and inventiveness.

Arts and humanities are manifestly humanistic disciplines – subjects that are about human life, and modes of thought and expression through the diverse media of world literature, art, music, film, theatre, and dance. The habits of mind cultivated by the humanities and the arts are especially well-suited to the challenges of modern society and the rapid technological changes that we confront to maintain a competitive edge in the coming decades. In increased proportions, society will look to the creative and intellectual capacities of the arts and the humanities as indispensable resources in facing the world of the future.

2. Enhancing Creativity and Critical Thinking

All of these learning skills are very useful in the future, especially in the working environment. Acquiring and practicing creativity and critical thinking can be lifelong benefits. There is no doubt that when working on an art project, students often have to invent and make decisions. For example, choosing different colors and cutting out shapes in a collage requires quite a bit of inventing and critical thinking. What is so beneficial to students is that they are really trying new things and manipulating materials and concepts. Coming up with an uncommon solution will also be useful in the future when the student is faced with a difficult problem in a job or personal situation. With a bit of creativity and inventiveness, one can often develop a new and better solution.

Art is important because it nurtures creativity and critical thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of creating art carries over into other parts of life. If a student is imaginative and creative, this skill will be evident in the future when trying to solve problems and making decisions. Art also teaches many important qualities such as listening, observing, and responding to multiple perspectives. These are skills that are necessary and can be taught. Most art assignments require students to follow directions, observe, and make decisions. And in return, students learn to carry out instructions, be patient, take the time to observe and understand, and in turn make better decisions.

3. Promoting Cultural Understanding and Diversity

An award-winning story created by a native Canadian and a recent Ethiopian immigrant portrays a scenario where discrimination is experienced by the Canadian in a café and how an old African gentleman intervenes to stop the discrimination. This project has provided a stage for immigrants to express their voice and experiences and gives incentive for community members to understand the challenges immigrants and fellow Canadians face in creating an inclusive diverse society.

There are many Canadian community-based projects that use arts and media to portray stories and experiences of immigrants. An example of a recent project is the Edmonton Immigrant Services Association’s Digital Storytelling Project. The agency brought together immigrants and refugees, the native-born, visible minority, and Aboriginal community members to create multimedia presentations of their life stories. These stories are written, narrated, and often presented in the storyteller’s native language. All community members have the opportunity to enhance their computer skills in creating the story.

Racism and prejudice are often the product of ignorance, fear, and a lack of understanding about other cultures, people, and traditions. By promoting cross-cultural understanding and preserving the heritage of diverse communities, the arts play an essential role in developing just and open societies.

4. Fostering Personal and Social Development

Arts and humanities are sources of communication and symbols that help people make sense of their lives and their world. People need to make value judgments and to make decisions on complex issues that will require an understanding of certain events and an understanding of the human nature involved. People then will need to be able to communicate this understanding to others. The arts and humanities are rated very valuable because they are those very activities that help people to sort out these complexities and communicate understanding to others. A person who is well grounded in the humanities will have sound judgment because they have learned how to make decisions based on the best available evidence. They will have strong communication skills and will be able to work on complex issues with a high level of understanding. Research shows that those high school students who took art classes have better social and emotional development and are more likely to be involved in community service.

5. Conclusion

When the politicians and business leaders of our time talk about “valuable resources,” most of them have only one thing in mind – money. That is not a resource, and certainly not a valuable one. It is a means to an end, and it is a measure of productivity or success, but it is not in and of itself a valuable resource. The real resources are the skills and knowledge of a nation’s people. If we give up the humanities, we give up the understanding of what our world is about. We give up the understanding of our fellow humans. We give up the dream of a world that can be something different, something more than it is. And only when that knowledge is committed to our hearts through the humanities can it become a part of us, so that we can use it in seeking a better future. It is possible that the true value of humanities and social sciences in today’s world can seem like something of an open question. There is a basic assumption with some evidence for its support that as a society moves towards increasing technical and economic advancement, the scientific way of thinking will predominate and that the need for non-scientific knowledge will diminish. Given that assumption, one may surmise that the ceramic pottery and abstract philosophy of today’s society will be little more than curious relics, a part of our historical past but disconnected from the present lives of future generations.