It was my privilege to address the fine arts teachers from all over Spartanburg County this past Friday morning as they gathered at the Chapman Cultural Center for a day of staff development.  It was also a joy to be in that wonderful facility unmatched by other cities of our size - Spartanburg is a great place to live and work!

During my comments welcoming the group of about 300 teachers, I related the importance of the arts in my own life.  My mother sang alto in barbershop groups for years, daddy played the piano and sang bass, my older brother played the trumpet and sang tenor, my younger brother sang lead, and I played drums in the high school band and could sing some, too.  We had a family quintet that sang at our church, but after I crooned two lines of "On the Jericho Road," the teachers understood why we never made a record....

That being said, there was a T-shirt in the 70s that stated, "If it weren't for PE, I'd quit school."  We could add chorus, orchestra, band, drama, dance, art, etc. to that slogan as our fine arts are the hook for many of our students; the reason they eagerly anticipate Monday mornings.

No Child Left Behind with its mantra of high stakes testing and accountability in math and reading has resulted in many places reducing the amount of time students spend in the arts, physical education, social studies and science, and even lunch and recess.  Funding has been reduced for those programs.  But there is a body of research that indicates students who are involved in the arts do better in their academic pursuits.  It is not usually the orchestra student who is in the assistant principal's office for disciplinary issues.  Perhaps we should increase funding for fine arts and athletics if we want our test scores to improve....