On the second floor of the Performing Arts Center, shoved all the way back to the end of the hallway, a perfect metaphor, is the drama room.
More than two years after the start of the pandemic, the drama program is still trying to recover from the hit. However, even before the pandemic, drama programs nationwide were already on the decline, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education. The benefits of taking performing or visual arts classes have been well-documented and include more creativity, confidence, self-expression, and better focus. Students who take art classes perform better in school as a whole. So of course, the decline of these classes isn’t exactly great.
“Arts education can support the social and emotional learning needs of students, including helping students learn to manage their emotion and have compassion for others,” said Denise Grail Brandenburg, an arts education specialist and team lead at the National Endowment for the Arts.
“The reason I took the [drama] class was to help with my anxiety. Socially, at least,” said Tay Martinez, a junior in Drama 1 at Logan, “So kind of doing it helps me.” Not only has drama and theater been documented to help with anxiety, but performing arts in general, such as dance or music.
Much of the reason why these programs, specifically drama programs, have been declining is because of underfunding. “I highly doubt our band would [be shut down] because our band is like the best band in the state,” said Martinez. “But things like choir and drama, they would get kicked easily if there were budget cuts.”
And budget cuts, there were. Over the last few years, much more emphasis has been placed on subjects like math and ELA, while the arts were left behind. Common Core was implemented to help students enter college and the workforce. It brought more weight onto test scores as the main measure of student success. Art subjects don´t have nearly as many standardized tests, so Common Core, among other things, ended up neglecting arts education.
“Before the pandemic, they had quite a few students, like up to 40 students, in each drama class,” said Martinez. “Now there’s like 20-something. It’s taken a big hit… there’s less people to play different games and to interact with, but there’s also less eyes on you as well. So that might help people come out of their shells more.”
The arts are really, really fun. Not only do students engage more in class in general, they also learn to grow and experience new things.
“But we play games, like games that children will play. It’s mostly just to break us out of our shells and get us to take bigger risks in the class,” said Martinez. “[Mr. Richardson] is coming up with more games to get us to interact with each other. And to try to build that sense of community.” That sense of community is especially important. It allows students to express themselves more freely than anywhere else in the whole school.
As Martinez put it, “In the classroom, you can be yourself. You don’t have to put on a facade for everyone else watching. You can just be yourself, and if yourself is a crazy 6 year old and that’s who you are, no judgment there… that’s perfectly fine.”
