Should Young School Children be Required to Study Art

Dai+Jingting

【Abstract】Now, more and more parents believe the theory that their children should take the lead as soon as possible at the starting line, requiring the young to study art in school. But after years, we witness the disadvantages of it. This essay states the drawbacks of this demand and exemplifies them through facts in daily life.

【Key Words】Education, Unreasonable requirement to children, Grave consequences.

As people can have much better life quality than before, an increasing number of people are convinced that young school children should study art and music besides normal courses. And they believe this action can help the children to become more competitive in their later social life. From my perspective, however, it shouldn't be a requirement to study art and music in school, instead, it can be optional choices if wanted.

The first reason why I oppose this idea is that people's personalities differ from each others . Some people are out-going while others are shy. There is no doubt that most shy people don't have the bravery to show themselves in front of a large crowds of people, which is a usual condition of music class. Also, active children wouldn't like to study for art respectfully and silently, which can only lead to the disorder and bad influence in the class. This notion can be exemplified through the movie The Kings Speech. Prince Albert is a king who suffers from stammer. In the movie, he tells his doctor that he was forced to correct the way he walked when he was a young boy. And the doctor believes that to compel Albert to do what he did not want is the main reason why he got stammer. There is no doubt that changing childrens behavior and harming their dignity can cause grave consequences.

The second reason that supports my opinion is that some students have specializations that may have nothing to do with any fields about art, and it's no need for them to study what they don't want to engage in. Elbert Einstein, the great scientist who discover the theory of relativity , found physics fascinating but art boring. And he always got a D in art during middle school. The score actually made his art teacher angry and the teacher had no good impression on Einstein. At last, he totally abandoned his art class and devoted to the field in which he had great passion. As we can see, to require the young to study art and music sometimes may not help them to be versatile, but lead to the counter dilemma that they choose to never get in touch with art if they ever could.

A third compelling reason is that if all the young children have to take art and music classes, it will hurt children's confidence and inner heart, of whom have little talents and creation thoughts. When I was young, I can't sing songs well and I tried to not sing in front of many people. But in my final examination of music class, all my class had to sing loudly in order to pass the exam. When it turned to me, I was embarrassed and screwed it up. Ive been laughed at for a periods of time, which hurt my dignity and I vowed that I would never sing any song in front of anyone. I can still clearly remember this event until now. And I always persuade myself that I cannot sing well and that singing is kind of humiliation.

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The last compelling reason stating that young children should not be required to learn art and music is that it cause larger pressure on them. As recorded by the National Statistics Bureau, students now are facing s more competitive society than their parents do. In 2013, nearly 60% of the college graduate is unemployed for over six months. But ten years earlier, college graduate is very rare that it is the representative of highly educated people. This situation never occurred before. Thus, parents should not force young children to learn art and music any more, because that will cause huge pressure on them.

To draw a conclusion, it's unfair to require children to study art and music due to different personalities, various specializations of different kinds of people. Also, it harms children's dignity if they are not gifted. Sometimes, to force young children to study what they dont like may cause a counter effect. Thus, young school children are not supposed to study art and music as a prerequisite.

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