My passion for fine arts began at a young age, but my passion for its continuation was not ignited until well into my adolescence. You see, I was fortunate enough to attend a good high school out in the Chicago suburbs. Good academics, good teachers, a good environment for both academic and personal development. On paper, it was everything a student could ask for.

However, it was lacking something crucial to the broadening of one's horizons--a stronger spotlight on the fine arts department.

As a prospective English major and general fanatic of all things artistic, I was dedicated to taking all of the literature, history, and foreign language classes I could during my high school years. I continued auditioning and taking part in the plays and musicals put on by the drama department. My best friends were among the beautiful voices of the choir and the incredible musicians of the band. To say that the fine arts were a big part of my high school career is an understatement.

But with all this considered, I noticed that there was a disparity between those within the fine arts and those in athletics. For example, the athletes of the major sports teams at my high school had sponsors and hardly had to raise money for their uniforms, equipment, or playing fields. In contrast, the budget for the fall play was zero dollars, and our costumes, set, and funding came entirely from the sign-up fees each actor and actress had to pay. The athletes reaped a massive turn-out to each and every game, home or away. Performances by the choir, band, or drama club were mostly attended by families or students whose teachers had offered extra credit by proving they had attended.

Now, I have to give credit where credit is due. In the latter half of my high school career, a gradual increase in focus on the fine arts could be seen. Students who had achieved honors within band or choir were recognized along with athletes at our monthly pep rallies. Further emphasis was placed on the drama club and other school organizations within the humanities. We saw progress, but still, it wasn't enough.

That led me to realize that it wasn't just arts versus sports in a suburban high school setting. It was creativity versus practicality in the workforce, an enduring battle between the liberal arts and STEM fields.

In our current society, there is too much of a negative connotation placed on those pursuing a degree or career within the humanities or fine arts. As creative fields, they are often competitive, and these creative minds are treated with contempt as they are wished good luck in making a career out of their chosen field. Meanwhile, those pursuing a life centered around the various STEM disciplines are supposedly "on the right track," bound to find a good job and make good money someday. Creative talents are seen as useless, while objective ones are seen as crucial.

Those within this school of thought cannot be further from the truth.

According to Dominic Lipari, a freshman at Berklee College of Music in Boston, the arts and an education within them can open doors people didn't even know could be opened. When asked why he believes an arts education is important, he says "[STEM subjects] don't measure the lesser appreciated but most important life skills, the very human skills that we all need to possess, such as emotional intelligence, the ability to collaborate, introspective emotional thinking, compassion, social awareness and tolerance, and many more."

This is true. The fine arts and humanities challenge its participants and followers to think with their hearts and souls to expand that which they can perceive with their minds. As a society, we admire films and concerts, theatrical productions and artistic creations, but we seem to view them as solely entertainment without appreciating the immense amount of work and time that goes into creating one movie, one symphony, one musical, or one work of art.

But what if music and theater aren't really your thing? What if you can't play an instrument or paint?

An education in the fine arts and humanities can offer you so much more than just a creative talent. It offers strengths in interpersonal skills, such as collaboration, cooperation, and negotiation. It allows people to develop creative solutions to ordinary problems. An arts education is so much more than what it seems: it adds humanity to the humans going about their day-to-day lives.

The benefits to an arts education are endless, but there is still a long way to go until the contempt and trials that creatives face regularly has become a thing of the past. It is a challenging road, but one that collaboration between all fields, creative or otherwise, are beginning to pave.