The Importance of Arts Education

So why should we as homeschoolers add the arts to our children’s education?

• First, we are God’s image bearers and created to reflect God’s character to a dying world. We cannot just choose to reflect the parts of His character that we like and forget the rest, but we must reflect all of it, even the parts we may not understand or feel comfortable with. If we were truly created to be reflections of God the Creator, then we were ALL created to be creative. This element of God’s character was not reserved only for the "chosen few" who have decided to make the arts their career choice. As image-bearers, we all have a responsibility to create that which is good and that which portrays truth, thus bringing God greater glory through our creative gifts. What better way to make this happen than to begin adding the arts as an integral part of your child’s education?

• Next, God has chosen some to be artists by profession. Even though we were all created to be creative, some have greater giftings in these areas than others. In Exodus 35 and 36 we learn that God called specific people to work in the arts, but how will we know if our children are called to this profession if we never expose them to the arts in the first place? In my experience at The Master’s Academy of Fine Arts, we have many students who graduate and go on in the arts who were never interested in them in the least until they came to The Master’s Academy and were exposed to them in all areas. You may have a diamond in the rough that God has chosen for a special purpose. Will you deny what God has put in your child because you see it as frivolous or of little value?

• Finally, artists are makers of culture who express their worldviews in ways that shape the worldviews of others. As Doug Phillips of The Vision Forum says “ It is not our job to accept reality, it is our job to define it.” Up until this point, we have lived in a reality defined by the worldviews of artists who desire to see the destruction of family, and the values of traditional society. We can no longer allow this to go on and expect to have a civil nation. We must seek to alter the reality of the current arts establishments by producing something of meaning and value, and that will only occur when we apply ourselves to educating our children in the arts.

Putting our culture back together must involve reclaiming and restoring the arts from a Christian perspective. The best way to do that is to begin to see the importance of educating our children in the arts...even if they aren’t artsy!