Art Chowder September | October 2016, Issue 5 | Page 12

Stan Miller

Is there anything you wish was different
in the art world?
I wish that the arts were more important in our
schools. Unfortunately the arts, music, drama,
dance, the visual arts are usually the first programs
to be cut. Expressing oneself through the arts is
equally important to learning math, science, history,
etc.
 When the world de-emphasizes the arts in favor
of other subjects, sports, and business...watch out.
We will suffer the consequences. When students find
themselves struggling to fit in a school, usually the
art classes can help these students to find and then
express themselves, possibly their unique view of life
that separates them from the other students. When
our creative students fail to find a quality artistic way
of expressing their uniqueness through the schools
curriculum my guess is that many of these students
drop out, join gangs…or in extreme cases, become a
“shooter”....feeling like no one knows them or listens
to them. Supporting and encouraging the arts in our
world is supporting the many varied ways that we
can communicate with each other. When the world
cuts the arts, in my view, violence will increase all
around the world.
12 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE