Final paper with Annotated Bibliography - explore any aspect of the Essay

Final paper with Annotated Bibliography - explore any aspect of the connection between the arts and society - Essay Example Good education is equated with employability such that the primordial concern of schools is to teach children how to read, write and compute so they can find their suitable place in the workforce. There is no question that literacy in English, math, science and history is critical in the technology-driven society of today but there is a growing interest in the concept that arts in fact offer a vast learning opportunity that should be offered to all children from the earliest grades. New research concerning the relationship between learning and the arts suggests that the study of music from a very early age, for example, alters the very structure of the brain and allows students to perform better on tests. This paper explores the connection between art and society by attempting to find any relevance of art education to the proper development of an individual. Its main interest is the issue of whether the school system can be efficient without an arts program in the curricula. The current global problems are traced to the purely rational and materialistic way of thinking. To reestablish harmony in our lives and in our eco-system, there must be heightened recognition of the importance of creativity and spirituality through the arts (Laszlo online). In this worldview, art is merely a leisure activity that provides pleasure and enjoyment and its study can therefore be abandoned anytime in favor of activities that make use of time â€Å"more profitably, efficiently and satisfactorily (Treumann, 1993).† Art appreciation is fit only for a gifted few, and if children have to study literature or musical notes and join visits to museums and art galleries, this is only done as part of one’s education and it is the socially proper thing to do. But recent studies show that such preoccupation with letters and numbers makes for learning environments that are dull, boring and