Journal of Education and Human Development

Eloquent Absence: Aesthetic Education in the United States
Pat Williams Boyd

Abstract
Aesthetic education resides in the land of vanishing arts, as art program are being relegated to minimal status despite the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), (2001)naming them core subjects and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), (2015) stating they are vital to a high quality education. Because the arts are neither tested nor funded, they become vulnerable in a world driven by a market economy, fueled by math and language arts and secondarily by science and economics. Amidst a growing body of research which points to the effect the arts have on students’ academic, college success and civic engagement, this paper examines the questions, “How have we arrived at this perilous point of absence of the arts? And most importantly, what value do the arts hold for the student within the formal educational system, in the work world, and in life in the present and in the future?”

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v6n2a3