Stratford SJ, Dec 6

Speaker 1

Speaker 2

Speaker 3

<K12 without the arts does more

Proposition
1 The arts help develop the brain.
1 The arts
2 Arts and music education are required
The arts
in successful countries
3 The arts help boost academic
3 The arts
achievement.
teach.
4 Is a major factor in economies
5 keep kids in school
6

harm than good. >

Opposition
waste time.
waste money.

Team LZW
William Li Raymond
Zhao Brian Wang

require more people to be trained to

4 Makes for lower quality in other subjects

5 Low quality arts education hurts students
6

Refute all opponents points & summarize with impact statements why proposition/opposition
wins the debate

<K12 without the arts does more harm than good.>

Prop/Opp
A Assertion
R Reasoning
E Evidence
Ref#
Intro
The future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create.
President Barack Obama
Prop
The Arts help develop
Neural connections are being made According to AASA.org, Another
1
the brain.
at a rapid rate during the brain's
study's data showed that boys
early years. A lot of what kids do as between the ages of 6 and 15 who
play, such as drawing, singing,
were musically trained had better
dancing, etc. are all forms of art.
verbal memory, which were longJudge, arts are a much neglected lasting. Students who dropped out of
part of the brain that must be
the musical group were tested a year
developed.
later and have been found to have
still retained the verbal memory they
had gained earlier.
Prop
The arts are
If these countries mandate the arts According to dosomething.org, the
2
mandatory in countries and are doing so well, it suggests arts are mandatory in countries that
that perform the best
that the arts are boosting these
perform the best compared to others,
compared to other
country's competitiveness.
such as Japan, Hungary, and the
countries.
Netherlands.

Prop
3

The arts improve

academic
performance.

Prop
4

Arts play major role in

economies

Judge, all of this data shows

clearly that students who
participate in the arts are far
more successful and better in life
than kids who do not participate
in the arts. If the students
participated in the arts, such as
music or dancing, their school
grade will bump up by a lot.

A study conducted by the University

of Stanford and the Carnegie
Foundation For the Advancement of
Teaching in 1998 found that young
students who participated in the arts
were 4 times more likely to be
recognized for academic
achievement, 3 times more likely to
be elected to class office within their
schools, and perform community
service 4 times more often than kids
who did not participate in the arts.

Its the question that all local

officials ask themselves: How
can we attract and retain
profitable businesses and

When Gallup and the Knight

Foundation set out to answer the
question What attaches people to
their communities? in a three-year

Source

Counter

http://www.aasa.org/Sch
oolAdministratorArticle.
aspx?id=7378

https://www.dosomethin
g.org/facts/11-factsabout-arts-education

http://www.aasa.org/Sch
oolAdministratorArticle.
aspx?id=7378
(Creating Music)

However, you failed

to say that the arts
did not relate directly
to academic
achievement. The
students in these
countries work hard.
It is not because of
the arts, it's because
of the student's study
habits.
All of this may be
true, however,
students do not have
the TIME for this.
Their schedules are
already booked up
with school and trying
to maintain their
grades. Adding music
or dance will only add
to the burden.

<K12 without the arts does more harm than good.>

Prop/Opp
A Assertion
R Reasoning
Ref#

Prop
5

Help encourage traits

used in society

E Evidence

Source

Counter

talented people? A key

study, researchers found that the key
component of such efforts and reasons cited by residents for loving
one thats often mislabeled an
their cities were entertainment and
amenity is arts and culture.
social offerings, how welcoming the
Creative businesses play a huge
city is and its aesthetics in other
part in the California economy.
words, the arts and culture. Besides,
These businesses comprise the
local cultures notwithstanding, the
arts, design, digital media and
arts comprise a huge percentage of
other fields that utilize a creative Americas annual income. The
workforce. More than 134,000
hundreds of billions dollar music
creative businesses employ
industry makes up an incredible
500,000 Californians, with
amount of the American GDP.
another 100,000 freelance or
part-time creative workers in the
mix. In addition, the Golden
States 4,553 arts organizations
contribute $3.56 billion annually
to its economy. But the value of
the arts extends beyond the
direct economic impact.
The arts encourage traits that are In an article written by the
very, very useful in society. StudentsWashington Post, they list TEN
may be unaware of how much the incredibly useful skills that the arts
arts have augmented their core,
help people gain. Here, we quote 4. A
fundamental traits.
mere four. 1. Creativity Being able
to think on your feet, approach tasks
from different perspectives and think
outside of the box will distinguish
your child from othersIf children have
practice thinking creatively, it will
come naturally to them now and in
their future career. 3. Problem
Solving Artistic creations are born
through the solving of problems.
Without even realizing it kids that
participate in the arts are consistently
being challenged to solve problems.
All this practice problem solving
develops childrens skills in reasoning
and understanding. 4.
Perseverance When a child picks

<K12 without the arts does more harm than good.>

Prop/Opp
A Assertion
R Reasoning
Ref#

E Evidence

Source

Counter

up a violin for the first time, they

know that playing Bach right away is
not an option; however, when that
child practices, learns the skills and
techniques and doesnt give up, that
Bach concerto is that much closer. In
an increasingly competitive world,
where people are being asked to
continually develop new skills,
perseverance is essential to achieving
success. 8. Collaboration Most
arts disciplines are collaborative in
nature. Through the arts, children
practice working together, sharing
responsibility, and compromising with
others to accomplish a common goal.
Through these experiences children
gain confidence and start to learn
that their contributions have value
even if they dont have the biggest
role.
Prop
6

Keep kids in school

Judge, lets face it. Kids ENJOY the

arts. Its fun, has immediate awards,
and even gives them opportunities
to show off in front of their fellow
students. For many children, one of
their main motivations might even
be the arts electives offered by their
school. Arts curb behavioral
problems and provides a wellmeaning and fun way for kids to
learn.

Opp
1

The arts waste time.

In order to include the arts in

education, you need more supplies
and more curriculum to cover it.
Making curriculum is not an easy
thing and will take years and years
of research. When the arts are made
mandatory, the school loses valuable
time in trying to fit the arts into their
school.

<K12 without the arts does more harm than good.>

Prop/Opp
A Assertion
R Reasoning
E Evidence
Ref#
Opp
The arts waste money.
As I have said earlier, the arts need
2
many supplies. For example, music
needs music sheets and instruments,
not to mention instrument parts. All
of these things are very expensive.
When the school mandates the arts,
they spend a significant amount of
their precious money to fit the arts in
their school.
Opp
Teachers must be hired When the arts are mandated, people
3
to teach the arts
must be found and trained to teach
the kids about arts. This would be a
huge hassle, and the school does not
have time for this.
Opp
Makes for lower quality As weve said before, schools barelyIn a Slate article by Matthew Yglesias,
4
in other subjects
have enough resources to support he states that school administrators
their CORE SUBJECTS. Judge,
attempting to cram arts and basic
consider this. If restaurant owners education into one package is a huge
had to decide whether it's "better" to
mistake. This also segues nicely into
serve Indian food or Chinese food, my next assertion.
the result would be bad food. This is
the age of ever tightening budgets.
Popular wisdom insists that the
remaining dollars be spent on
reading, math, and science and (the
often-unlisted essential) sports
rather than wasting them on artistic
frivolousness like fine arts, music,
literature, dance, or theater.
Opp
Low quality arts
Judge, with the rise of charter and In a study put out by Harvards
5
education hurts
private schools, it isnt surprising Project Zero, an undertaking that
students
that the quality of art education is seeks to analyze the future prospects
going downhill. With the new privateof education. They state In addition,
institutions that dominate todays the quality of arts learning
landscape, they are channeling all opportunities that are available to
the good art teachers away from
young people is a serious concern.
public schools. From there, public We should not be forcing low quality
schools have to resort to low-quality,
arts education on indifferent students
barely educated, young teachers and giving them a negative view on
that dont get the job done. Instead arts education. If they are truly
of educating our future generations interested, they should seek much
with a venerable, experienced sage higher quality art programs outside of

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<K12 without the arts does more harm than good.>

Prop/Opp
A Assertion
R Reasoning
E Evidence
Ref#
who can guide them through the
school. Instead of letting this disease
raging storm of school, schools are of horrible arts education further hurt
instead resorting to underpaid,
todays generation. Thats why have
overworked 20 somethings who
to kill it and let both parties rest in
undermine the entire purpose of artpeace.
education. We shouldnt be letting
incredibly unqualified hippies with a
BA in drama shape our future.
Opp
6
Opp
7
Opp
8

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