Ckyrro Carlos
502 E Boone Ave
Spokane, WA 99202
Tom Torlakson
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction
California Department of Education
1430 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Mr. Torlakson,
Education is the tool we equip the youth in our country with to improve the state of the world around us. Whether it be an understanding of mathematics, the knowledge of history, or the beauty of the English language we use schooling to expand the minds of our citizens. So how did we, as a society, lose perspective on what was important and begin to focus on what we could quantify on a bubble sheet? If the purpose of education is to broaden a child’s view of the world, then why would we limit their ability to be exposed to the arts?
I had the privilege of being born into a family that could afford to expose me to the arts, and in turn this has helped me to fully realize the person I wanted to be. I have found a passion for the arts that I’m not sure I would have if not for the early exposure to the arts. I was fortunate enough that my parents could afford to send me to a school that offered art programs and after school programs that furthered my love of these creative pursuits. But not everyone is so lucky. In schools across this nation budgets are being cut and the first thing to go are the arts. This is nothing less than robbery Mr. Torlakson. This is the theft of a child’s potential to love artwork, music, or dance. This is the stealing of a child’s exposure to creativity. Just because you cannot assess what a child is getting out of the arts in a standardized test does not mean it is any less important than any other academic subject. The arts give a child something that other subjects cannot, and what they offer is just as, if not more important. It changes the way they view the world, it enhances their ability to think laterally, and it improves their overall cognitive aptitude.
We as a society cannot let the arts fall to the wayside, we must fight tooth and nail for them. Imagination is what fuels the human race. You can possess all the knowledge in the world, but without imagination you cannot do anything with it. If we want a nation full of bright and spirited adults that can affect positive change in this world we need children whose sense of wonder is not stunted by a lack of access to a creative outlet.
With all due respect,
Ckyrro Carlos