Arts Focused Education is Essential to Develop Attention, Cognition, Self-Control Skills

We're constantly hearing about how poor math and science education is — poor results, falling behind the rest of the world, not producing enough scientists who can help us compete on the world stage and, most importantly, become the next generation of astronauts. But travels to Mars aside, all this talk draws our attention away from the role art plays in education.

Michael Posner and Brenda Patoine don't believe art's effects are solely calming or inspirational, they argue that art training improves cognition, and strengthens the brain's attention networks. As we learned recently it's the ability to pay attention, avoid distraction and demonstrate self-control (so called "executive attention networks") that are crucial to a student's potential for future academic success, necessitating the need for role-play at young age to develop young brains. So if there's any substance to Posner and Patoine's claims, we must take seriously and expand drama and art training. No wonder the Greeks were so smart.

Posner and Patoine contend that their neuroscientific claim isn't actually all that controversial "within the context of what we call activity-dependent plasticity, a basic tenet of brain function." Solid data is increasingly emerging, and its results may lead to the conclusion that more than anything, children need balance in their curricula. Drilling them with math-tests and spelling bees may help improve test-scores and look good to parents and politicians, but making them better rounded human-beings, able to pay attention and demonstrate a high-level of sustained cognition, isn't so respected — that is a fact that I can't get my head around.

Photo Credit: BarelyFitz