by C’shae Bess-Perez

After the 2012-2013 school year, the music appreciation class and school choir were taken out of the curriculum. The 2013-2014 school year is the first that hasn’t had a music program, according to guidance counselor Eilleen Cuellar.

“I was going to take choir my senior year because it’s one of the classes I enjoyed taking and was a stress reliever from school,” senior Kari-Indigo Mathews said. “For them to get rid of the [music]  program and get rid of the thing that really brought me comfort really sucks.”

The programs could have had a great impact on students if they were kept around. The drama/theater class was cut from the curriculum in the 2011-2012 school year; however, this year English teacher Susan Suarez offered to be the adviser for the drama club, which will take place after school.

According to dosomething.org, “researchers find that sustained learning in music and theatre correlates strongly with higher achievement in both math and reading.”

With the improvements that the school plans to make with test scores, the administration should look into the possibility that restoring the art and music programs could aid the development of students and help them to achieve those higher test scores and also that removing the arts programs may lead to a decline in test scores.

“Middle and high school students with a high engagement in the arts are more likely to perform well on standardized achievement tests and attain high grades, and are less likely to drop out of school,” according to artsedsearch.org.

With the demanding classes students are taking, art, drama and choir would be the perfect “stress reliever” from school.

Along with the educational excellence that comes with being involved in art programs comes a positive change in “behavior, engagement and persistence,” according to artsedsearch.org.

The efforts that the administration is trying to make with improving the behavior of students and trying to get students more involved in positive activities could be less necessary if the art and music programs were restored and strengthened.

Art and music programs are much more than a class that’ll help students get an easy “A.” There are a lot of students in the school who are artistically talented, which was shown during the school assembly Dec. 20, 2013. A lot of students were eager to participate in acting exercises with the guest in attendance. Students also have bi-weekly spoken-word workshops that give them opportunities to learn and develop their poetic skill.

Art and music programs can dramatically improve students’ test-taking skills and ability to behave and be persistent in their work. The school could benefit from bringing the music and theatre programs back.