Ever wondered about some of the benefits of high school art classes? In addition to a different type of thinking and opening a flood of creativity, art classes provide additional advantages for growing teens. There are numerous lessons that art classes provide to students that other classics, like typical mathematics and science courses, cannot.
What Do You Learn In Art Class?
Some people think of art class as little more than just than coloring. But there is much more than can be learned in art such as:
- Project development skills. Many secondary school art classes vary from teaching painting one week to clay projects another. In order to get grades in the course, students must have forethought and plan out what they want to do before they go ahead and do it.
- Different hands-on abilities. Few students come out of art classes as full-blown artists. Instead, they learn various artistic skills like sketching, painting, clay work, paper projects, glass staining and more. While these might not develop into lifelong professions, these areas of knowledge can be quite helpful for those in creative professions.
- A sense of pride and achievement. Many schools focus heavily on exhibitions towards the end of the semester to highlight how impressive artistic achievement is. Teens can feel pride and success in the fact that they are able to participate in these events.
- Time management. Completing larger projects in art classes can often be time intensive. Unlike other areas of study, art rooms are often open later and on the weekends so that teens can return to complete these types of projects. As a result, teens learn how to balance their time schedules.
Benefits for Teens
Teens develop a myriad of skills thanks to art classes. Examples include:
- How to focus and concentrate. Art projects require a certain amount of concentration to complete. Whether the project involves watercolors or paper, there are steps to follow. Each step requires teens to pay attention to what they are doing.
- Attention to detail. Drawing skills especially can help teens see the smallest facets of something that they might not have otherwise. This type of attention to detail can spread to other subject areas and future work opportunities.
- Improved hand eye coordination. Art projects involve hand eye coordination. Continually doing these types of projects, such as over the span of a semester, can lead to improved abilities.
- Creativity. While it might seem slight, art classes boost a teen's creativity and ability to think outside of the box. In addition to helping with other projects for school, this skill is of top interest to those in the job market.
- The ability to follow through. In addition to time and some grasp on the actual skill itself, art teaches the ability to follow something through to completion and to handle errors or problems as they arise. This lifelong skill can assist in just about every life area.
- Problem solving skills. When something goes wrong with an art project, it must be handled in such a way as to not harm the rest of the project. These types of isolated problem solving skills are essential in the development of a teen's motor functions.
- Social skills. Often, art projects involve working with others, whether it just be the teacher or the person sitting next to you. Social skills in a focused environment cannot be gained in other academic disciplines as easily.
Overall Learning
All parts of high school education are crucial for overall learning. If a teen misses a math class, they will miss out on learning numerous computational skills. The same is true of art. The skills learned in art classes cannot be picked up as easily in other courses and are essential for long-term skill advancement. The next time someone asks about the reasons for art classes, you will be able to tell them that there's much more to art than just painting: there are job skills to be learned!
