The vitality of performance art in education

Education is a broad word. For one to be truly educated they must have a broad knowledge of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual knowledge. As the economy crashed in 2008 budgets in schools began to shrink. As the budgets sank so did the Art programs within schools. Art both in the form of performing arts and visual arts are vital to one's education and the growth of the creative way of thinking so lost in our society. The lack of art requirements in our education system is contributing to the depletion of original thought, confidence in one's stance on political and moral issues and drive to pursue excellence. Visual art continues to take precedence in our school systems. Performing arts have withered away. Performing arts such as acting, musical theatre, band, choir and dance have been the main source ridicule over the years. Education  has been labeled as the act of reading, writing and testing, however education is so much more. I talk from personal experience.

Without the involvement of performing arts in my education i would not be the person I am or the woman I strive to be. At the age of twelve I began getting involved in theatre. Without Faith Christians award winning theatre program and curriculum i would still be a tremendously shy individual and would lack much of the confidence i stand with behind my moral and political views. Learning the ability to speak in front of a crowd of people without an ounce of nerves propells an indvidual to leadership. Without leadership in our world our economy, political system and society begins to weaken.

Often performing arts are looked at for simply a tool to learn the task of public speaking. I believe the creativity involved requires so much more. Acting is the art of encompassing the essence of humanity. In order for true humanity to be encompassed, the student must learn and study human behavior. This requires learning the value of what you speak and how it effects those around you, studying how people to respond to circumstances, and how ones past may have influence their present choices. Sounds like psychology? It is! An acting class is a psychology class in action and put into practice. if we were to compare this to sports a psychology class would be sitting in the locker room discussing the game plan, therefore acting would be that game plan put into action. Is this not sounding like civics and Econ? Okay lets put it this way, remember those Yale students protesting against the Dean for the halloween costumes? Okay i want you to imagine if that generation was required to take not only a visual arts class but a performing arts class as well. A class were they learned how to see the perspective the Dean held. A class were they learned that crying and whining does not put off a well thought out point in case. By being involved in acting classes students learn ways to communicate their ideas without being overdramatic and frankly without acting insane. Maybe if they were given the opportunity to be put in intense emotional scenes studying the real life trauma people have faced, safety rooms and puppies wouldn't be needed when they felt triggered by something their professor said. Studying the behavior of other individuals puts into perspective the vitality, or lack of, in your own behavior.

As an actor I've been taught how to convey the emotion i want the audience to see in me. Our generation and the generation ahead of me has lost the ability to convey what they want others to see in them. Look at our politicians. Hillary wanted more than anything to give off a warm persona to her spectators. This was seen as fake and unrealistic as each of the three debates pressed along.  However Donald Trump admitted after the election was over that his vulgar, blunt, over-the-top persona he gave off during his campaign was a tactic used in order for a non-politican to gain that spotlight needed for a successful campaign. Who had more time in the entertainment industry and studied acting?, Donald Trump. He knew what the people wanted, he knew what persona he needed to put on and he knew how to convey that to his audience.

Now I'm not saying we should raise a generation of Trumps but i am saying what he did worked, and i know it worked because he is now the President of the most power-ful nation on earth. Still think I'm wrong about Donald Trump using this tactic? Take a look at his persona presently. The change is  drastic with more humble approach.

Common sense has been lost in our generation. Common sense is the idea of human essence and how the brain should naturally respond to circumstances. How do we incorporate this back into our school systems? Through the requirement of performing arts. Many high schools across the nation do not offer pyschology classes, however offer acting classes which can have just as much, if not more benefit to the student. The study of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and even Lin Manuel-Miranda teaches the students the essence of superior writing, along with the challenge of encompassing the characters throughout the classic literature. Therefore resulting in a better understanding of the piece.

I am going into the entertainment industry because i believe it's the most influential industry on this earth. Just look at the media's influence in the election. Christians are often scared of this industry as a career because of the amount of secular beliefs and liberal moral views. You know why the industry is majorly liberal? Because Christians are too scared and weak of going in and standing firm in their beliefs. If we as Christians are here to spread the gospel why not do it through the most influential industry known to mankind? We were not put here to stay with in our safety zone. This is my way of making a difference before i die. I want to teach performing arts and their importance in our society. During World War 2 Hitler attacked and stole the arts within the country's he took over. Actors and performers were killed, paintings and sculptors were stolen because he believed that if you could destroy a cultures art you yet could destroy the nation itself. Art is valuable in expanding the brain, personality, intelligence and critical thinking. That is why i believe that 1 year of performing arts need to be a requirement throughout our school systems.