With the elections coming up, there's naturally been a lot of talk about budgets, and how each candidate wants to distribute money. In my opinion, our schools need a lot more money than they currently have. Classrooms are where future leaders, inventors, doctors, etc. are created and taught, and we are not giving them enough quality resources to work with. How can we expect students to reach their full potential when we do not give them opportunities and materials to work with? One of the areas in our school system that lacks the most funding, support, etc. is the arts, which is something I have never understood. Creativity used while doing activities like music, dance, poetry, painting, sculpting, etc. cannot be found by doing other activities like algebra and biology. Art not only encourages creativity in students, it is also a form of self-expression, an outlet, and helps students be more innovative and better problem-solvers. Art is extremely important, and the American school system needs to work on encouraging creativity in the classroom.

Academically, we often compare ourselves to the Chinese. This makes sense, China has an extremely rigorous and competitive education system, and Chinese students are often some of the most successful students on a global level. But one thing the Chinese schools lack is creativity. One Chinese educator admired the creativity used in American schools and said, “One of the first things that attract me is the creative spirits I found in the American high school teachers and students. We often found that American high school students are very creative, although the Chinese kids have a solid academic foundation, they lack the creative spirit.”

Creativity is something that will not only help students, it will help working adults too. A worldwide study done by 1,500 CEOs done in 2010 says that creativity is the most valued business skill in the world. Allowing students to be creative in school teaches them how to be creative in the real world, and not allowing that can hurt them in their future careers, etc.() Creativity also has been linked to happiness. According to studies, doing something creative can help a person feel overcome “feeling blue”, and the self-reflection that is involved with creative activities help eliminate some causes of depression. Creativity allows people to find hobbies they love, and those hobbies can be a coping method, source of entertainment and happiness, etc. for people. Compared to American students, Chinese students are often more stressed, and one of the main reasons why is that they’re school systems demand too much time for studying and academics and not enough time for creativity.

Creativity is clearly an extremely important quality that we should strive to have. But what can the average person do to encourage creativity? This is where the arts come in. Encourage your family, friends, children, coworkers, etc. to do artistic things in their free time and when they are feeling stressed. You can take up a new hobby of your own, there are plenty of creative and artistic things you can do out of your home and with other people in your community. Encourage teachers, principals, school board members, etc. to keep the arts in school. The children truly need it. And of course, talk to lawmakers about funding more artistic programs, especially in schools. Art and creativity are good for the mind, body, and soul, it is about time that we treat them like the priorities they rightfully are.