While the [arts] industry continues to strive to survive, there has been one recent big win for [Nate] McGaha, his predecessor Karen Wells, and other arts advocates in North Carolina. Senate Bill 681 was signed into law in July 2020, officially creating an arts high school graduation requirement in North Carolina.
According to this law, “A student must complete one arts credit (music, visual art, theatre arts, dance) between Grade 6 and Grade 12 in order to graduate from high school, beginning with those students entering Grade 6 in 2022.” This was a 10-year journey that included representatives and senators from both sides of the aisle….
What does the law mean for North Carolina students? We talked with McGaha to learn more. Find the interview, edited for length and clarity, below.
[Caroline] Parker: In your own words, what does it mean to have “equitable access to quality arts instruction as part of a well-rounded education for every North Carolina student”?
McGaha: I think that it is vital that every student have access, not only to the arts, but to the arts that they need. That means providing a variety of options — visual arts, theatre arts, media arts, dance, as well music education.
Everybody deserves to have access to what they need, a variety to choose from, so that they can find their passion. I don’t think we can understate the value in the arts in education. The most socioeconomically challenged students are five times more likely to graduate from high school, and twice as likely to graduate from college, if they find themselves actively engaged in the arts, through all four years of high school.
We find time and time again, study and study again, that studying the arts via music or what have you, improves cognitive skills, improves concentration, and improves empathy. So we’re not just making smarter, more effective students, but we’re making better citizens and better people as we as we expose them to the arts and allow that to aid and be a central part of their education.
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