They Should Not Be The First Cut

Do re mi . . . . .  Do re mi, Do re, Do, oh great, I never learned it.  Well maybe I know this one, red and yellow makes orange, but blue and red makes, I don’t know!  This is so frustrating!  I know, I’ll ask my speech coach!  Wait, I don’t have that either!  There are many cases like this across the country, it’s quite sad actually.  You see, their school cut arts education and extra curricular activities because they didn’t realize, how important they are, how they would improve the students’ education, what happened once they were cut, and the community didn’t realize how they could help.  So that’s what I am here to tell you today.

According to Jamie Powell, an education curator, if it weren’t for art, we wouldn’t have as many records from history that we have today.  All forms of art help us to understand and become aware of other cultures from both the past and present.  This then helps children learn to communicate and by helping them learn to communicate, the arts help to complete their education.  Children participating in theatrical and musical programs have also shown an improvement in language, writing, and reading skills.

“We all need to support the arts,” says former U.S. attorney Janet Reno, “In doing so, we are telling America’s youth that we believe in them and value what they can be.”

Arts education has also been proven to engage students, honor disparate learning styles, help students understand their personal identities, encourage commitment and persistence, and help students attend school more often.

Vivian Doublestein’s article titled “The Importance of Arts education from a Christian Perspective,” says that in 1993, students who had studied art for four years took the SAT's and received 53 more  points for the verbal section and 37 more points for the math section, than students who had no arts training whatsoever.  The article also notes that in another study, consisting of one group of students in a computer class, and one group of students in a music class, the music class students improved their intelligence 35% more than those in the computer class.

Statistics like these show us that not only are arts educated individuals able to learn and understand more, but it also is proven to give them a brighter future.  Once high school is over, individuals are faced with the choice to pursue higher education or to enter the work force.  In both scenarios, students will be able to successfully use the skills they have gained from arts education to advance in the future.

The vice president of the Xerox Foundation, Dr. Joseph M. Calahan says, “Arts in education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate; the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence.”

Ronald Regan, former Hollywood actor that became president says, “Civilizations are most often remembered for their art and thought…I have always believed in the definition of an educated man or woman as one who could, if necessary, refound his or her civilization.  The existence of strong music and fine arts curriculum are important to keeping the humanities truly humanizing and liberal arts education truly liberating.”

Extra curricular activities are also important.  Through extra curricular activities, students develop social skills, improve their school performance, and build relationships with teachers who coach the activities.  Extra curricular activities also benefit students in with socio economic challenges.  These students that participated in extra curricular activities showed fewer social problems later on in life.

For example, statistics have shown that students who participate in highly evolved extra curricular programs are more likely to become engaged in school, attentive in class, less likely to skip classes, and have a lower chance of doing drugs or drinking alcohol.  High school students, like myself, are also more likely to go to college, vote, and volunteer often, if they actively participated in extra curricular activities.

"High School Extracurricular Activities & College Grade,” a research project, presented by Mary Rombokas shows us that by participating in extra curricular activities, students’ intellectual and social skill development were improved, along with higher average g.p.a’s.

Just like many of you, arts programs and extra curricular activities have had a profound personal impact on me.  After joining my school’s arts program, my grades have gone from B’s to A’s, my artwork has improved, and my self esteem has grown significantly.  I have been in extra curricular activities since I can remember, and to be honest, I really cannot imagine my ife without them.  But three months ago, I had an operation to fix a problem in my foot.  This left me unable to participate in any activities for months, I went CRAZY.  Now, thanks to speech, which I did start in a wheelchair, I have many new friends, some of which are teachers, and I look forward to school to be in speech.

So now, let’s ask ourselves, what would happen if we did cut these programs?  If we cut arts education and extra curricular activities, the direct opposite of what I have outlined will most likely occur.  For example, student enrollment and attendance would decline, and the school’s grade point average and student self-esteem would decrease.  And this is just, a supposition, but, that would be bad and we don’t want it to transpire.

So now, let’s look at what we, as individuals and participants can do to ensure a future for the programs that mean so much to us.  One possible course of action, instead of cutting arts and extra curricular activities first, is cut programs equally.  If you have to cut a few general education classes, that’s okay.  For instance you may have to sacrifice some of the school’s science classes.  Is it fair, probably not but the alternate is to lose programs that have a proven record of benefiting large numbers of students. Of course, not all of us are school board members and we just don’t get to chose what gets cut and what doesn’t.  However, there are options or students and concerned citizens that can impact the decisions of the school board.  One action is to do what I am doing.  Just find proof, write a speech and present it at a school board meeting.  When the programs are cut, there is a way to bring them back.  All you have to do, is create a fund with help from the community and then the school doesn’t pay for these programs, so they don’t get to chose whether or not they are cut.  Fundraisers, posters, and other advertising methods also help to preserve and protect arts education and extracurricular activities.

So maybe if that person’s school I mentioned earlier had heard this speech, she would have learned fa so lat ti do and that red and blue made purple.  The person would also have gotten the chance to compete with us.  So if your school had experienced some budget cuts and no one took action, would you be listening to this speech?

 

Address to the United Nations International Conference of Women, by Benazir Bhutto

     For those of you who may be ignorant of Islam, cast aside your preconceptions about the role of women in our religion.

            Contrary to what many of you may have come to believe, Islam embraces a rich variety of political, social, and cultural traditions.  The fundamental ethos of Islam is tolerance, dialogue, and democracy.

            Just as in Christianity and Judaism, we must always be on guard for those who will exploit and manipulate the Holy Book for their own narrow political ends, who will distort the essence of pluralism and tolerance for their own extremist agendas.

            To those who claim to speak for Islam but who would deny women our place in society, I say:

            The ethos of Islam is equality, equally between the sexes.  There is no religion on earth that, in its writing and teachings, is more respectful of the role of women in society than Islam.

            In the years that followed the September 11th terrorist attacks, attitudes of Americans towards Islam have deteriorated markedly.  In a 2008 opinion survey, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life noted that a majority of Americans held an unfavorable view of Muslims.  Those attitudes are certainly nothing new.  On September 5, 1995, before the United Nations International Conference of Women, in Beijing, China, Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, addressed these negative stereotypes head on.  But it was more than just general images of Islam that Bhutto addressed. She zeroed in specifically on the role of women in Islam, and the disconnect between perception and reality.

            In her opening comments, Bhutto sets out to note that there are those who have, in her view, hijacked the true spirit of Islam.  As the prime minister of the second largest Muslim nation in the world, this made her the ideal messenger.  Bhutto’s status, the audience for her address, some of her rhetorical techniques, and the historical context of this speech, all build the foundation of its significance.  To begin the process for guiding her audience to a better understanding of Islam, Bhutto outlines what she believes are its pure tenets.  And through the subtle use of parallel structure, in this case, beginning a series of sentences with the word, “it,” she engages the listener to connect the dots of her thesis.

           

            My presence here, as the elected woman prime minister of a great Muslim country, is testament to the commitment of Islam to the role of women in society.

            It is this tradition of Islam that has empowered me, has strengthened me, has emboldened me.

            It was this heritage that sustained me during the most difficult points in my life, for Islam forbids injustice; injustice against people, against nations, against women.

            It denounces inequality as the gravest form of injustice.

            It enjoins its followers to combat oppression and tyranny.

            It enshrines piety as the sole criteria for judging humankind.

            It shuns race, color, and gender as a basis of distinction amongst fellow men.

            Through the use of strong action verbs, (denounces, enjoins, enshrines) Bhutto challenges her audience to open their minds and shed their preconceived notions of Islam.  The way she delivered these lines, almost like a rhetorical battering ram, was a part of that effort to educate.

            Bhutto’s experience as the daughter of a deposed prime minister deeply affected her.  A strong believer in democracy and the social justice component of her faith, Bhutto was ideally suited to share these principles to a world conference of women.  By applying personalization, Bhutto sets out to make an emotional connection with her audience.  The goal of that connection?  To push forward the base message of her speech.

 

            I recall the words of Dante, who reminded us that “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.”

            Today in this world, in the fight for the liberation of women, there can be no neutrality.

            My spirit carries many a scar of a long and lonely battle against dictatorship and tyranny.  I witnessed, at a young age, the overthrow of democracy, the assassination of an elected prime minister, and a systematic assault against the very foundations of a free society.

            But our faith in democracy was not broken.  The great Pakistani poet and philosopher Dr. Allama Iqbal says, “Tyranny cannot endure forever.”  It did not.  The will of our people prevailed against the forces of dictatorship.

            Barely six months after this address was given, Bhutto, like her father, was deposed as prime minister.  But her words can, and should, resonate in a world that views adherents of Islam with suspicion.  Through the use again of parallel structure, Bhutto equates universally accepted human rights with “justice,” and by extension, with Islam.

 

            My dear sisters, we have learned that democracy alone is not enough.

            Freedom of choice alone does not guarantee justice.

            Equal rights are not defined only by political values.

            Social justice is a triad of freedom, an equation of liberty.

            Justice is political liberty.

            Justice is economic independence.

            Justice is social equality.

            Delegates, sisters, the child who is starving has no human rights.

            The girl who is illiterate has no future.

            The woman who cannot plan her life, plan her family, plan a career, is fundamentally not free . . .

            In her concluding comments, Bhutto restates her destination for improving the lives of women in her native land, and by further extension, across the entire Islamic world, for, in her view, equality for women in one part of the world will aid in the fight for equality across the globe.  Sadly, Bhutto will not live to see her dreams fulfilled.  She was struck down by an assassin’s bullet on December 27th, 2007.

 

       I am determined to change the plight of women in my country.  More than sixty million of our women are largely sidelined.

            I dream of a Pakistan in which women contribute to their full potential.  I am conscious of the struggle that lies ahead.  But, with your help, we shall persevere.  Allah willing, we shall succeed.