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Advocates say cutting art education programs undermine needed childhood skills

stock photo of a classroom
Pixabay.com
stock photo of a classroom

Art and music education advocates in central Kentucky argue programs in schools provide children with needed critical thinking skills.

That comes alongside a nationwide trend of school systems cutting arts programs because of budget cuts or shrinking school enrollment. Fayette County Public Schools recently cut art programs at Cassidy Elementary School.

Erin Batkiewicz of Lexington’s Wellness Creative music therapy clinic says music lessons help strengthen brain growth more than almost any other activity for children.

“Whenever we're participating in music lessons, it thickens certain structures of the brain,” Batkiewicz said. “It creates new neural pathways. It creates more communication between the left and right brain hemisphere, and it stimulates this part of the brain that helps us store long term memories.”

Ilona Szekely, professor of Art Education at EKU, says art lessons help strengthen brain growth more than almost any other activity for children.

“I think when you have an art class, you're not just filling out a worksheet or doing another assignment on the board,” Szekely said. “You're inventing, you're solving problems or critically thinking in a way that no other class really asks you to do.”

More with Szekely and Batkiewicz can be heard on this week’s edition of Eastern Standard Thursday at 11 a.m.

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Shepherd joined WEKU in June 2023 as a staff reporter. He most recently worked for West Virginia Public Broadcasting as General Assignment Reporter. In that role, he collected interviews and captured photos in the northern region of West Virginia. Shepherd holds a master’s degree in Digital Marketing Communication and a bachelor’s in music from West Virginia University.
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