CEM210 - Education Cuts - Music & The Arts

When the Coalition government came into power so did funding cuts all across the government. Education cuts were to be expected but the government minsters tried to reassure us that they were going to cut as little as possible.

When education cuts have to be made they see music and the arts as a nonessential part of education, but I feel this is far from the truth. I realize that English, maths and science are essential, but music and arts is needed for children to do a subject that is more enjoyable while still learning skills at the same time.

There are many studies that show that pupils who learn instruments and participate in extra curricular activities have better grades and higher development.

Looking back on my education some of my strongest and best memories are ones of art and music lessons, I suffered with dyslexia quite badly and had a strong dislike for maths, my school were very good as they tested for dyslexia and arranged learning support for me. I think the music lessons benefited me and other children because I learnt to read music without realizing I was learning which took the pressure off thinking that it was just another subject. Achieving in music and art can be very satisfying because you have a product instead of just grades from a test.

The cuts also affected higher education; the university fees for 2012/2013 have gone up considerable for many institutions which means people will either go and get into more debt when they leave university or not be able to go at all and not get a job they wanted to get because they are not qualified enough.

Many international students come to Britain to study because the education is meant to be some of the best in the world but now with the cuts in the UK, the qualifications are not regarded so highly. This means that now not as many international students will want to come to the UK to study, some institutions require a certain amount of foreign students and some need them for money as they pay a lot to study here.

In conclusion the cuts will be very detrimental to education, I think its unfair for the government to decide that the arts are not as important as other subjects. The individual schools should decide what areas they want to cut because each school has different situations.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3333641

http://www.mus.cam.ac.uk/~ic108/MMS/

http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5753

http://www.ifs.org.uk/docs/nff_conference2011.pdf