Art, not drugs, saved me from the horrible trauma of my
childhood. So why do we think it’s optional for our kids?
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| This is my grandson Jake when he was a few months old. He starts kindergarten this year. I really hope he has time to paint and draw in school. |
The overall death rate in Britain and America started
dropping at the turn of the last century—except for childbirth deaths. They increased,
even though women were healthier overall. At odds with every other health marker,
rich women were more likely to die in childbirth than poor women. Why?
For most of history, midwives attended laboring women in
their homes. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that women began to be
attended by doctors and to deliver infants in hospitals or private nursing
homes. Since the medical profession had no understanding of sanitation, doctors
inadvertently spread puerperal fever from one patient to the next. That’s when
they weren’t intervening with forceps, anesthesia, caesarians, and other frequently-fatal
procedures. Rich women were more likely to be on the forefront of medical care,
so they suffered disproportionately.
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| The New Puppy, by Carol L. Douglas. Available through Camden Falls Gallery. |
I love math. I’m pretty good at it,
and I see it as a description of the beautiful unity of the world’s design. I’m
all for teaching math and science.
But to make room for math and science, we’ve cut back on art
and music. And every time a public school needs to trim its
sails, they start with the art department. That disregards the important role art has always played in liberal education, and all the science that tells us that art plays a critical role in
developing intellect and character.
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| Miss Margaret, by Carol L. Douglas. She was a pretty good stress-reducer. |
According to Athena
Health, the percentage of pediatric patients with an anxiety diagnosis more
than doubled from 2013 to this year. The percentage of patients prescribed
anti-anxiety drugs over that time increased by a factor of six.
My sister and brother died when I was a child, in two separate,
brutal accidents. There were no anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds back
then. Luckily for me, I had art, so here I still am.
A recent
study from Drexel University shows that creating art significantly lowers levels
of the stress hormone cortisol. Competence and the difficulty of the task had
no significant effect on the results, but younger participants had a more
consistent positive effect.
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| White Sands of Iona, by Carol L. Douglas, available. |
I’ve written about brain
growth in kids from doing art, doodling
and executive function, neuroplasticity,
and many other subjects. Training in drawing is associated with an increase
in brain gray matter and changes
in the prefrontal cortex. Making art improves
the functional connectivity between cortices. Even passive engagement with
art helps brain function.
Can anyone cite similar positive outcomes from their school’s
football program?
Someday (I hope), we will classify the educational
bureaucrats who dismiss art education with the well-meaning, misguided doctors
who killed so many women in childbirth. But until then, we need to keep the
pressure on to restore art to its proper place in western education.
And parents, by all means, keep your kids drawing.
