A child’s education cannot rely on reading and math alone. A wide range of educational opportunities need to be made available to a child to allow them to explore their talents and interests, whether it be through arts programs, athletics programs, or other activities outside of subjects on standardized tests. Not every student wants to be an engineer or scientist and those children should not be denied opportunities in their education. Creativity in the classroom plays a big role in how children involve themselves in their studies, social lives, and home lives. It is an important part of education and should be valued more. Many people believe that the arts are a waste of time and aren’t going to land you a stable job in the future. What they don’t realize is that having knowledge in different arts, benefits students in different parts of their lives. Including in the classroom where they learn math and science. Not only does having knowledge in the arts stimulate and develop the imagination and critical thinking, but it also refines cognitive and creative skills. Whilst other students might solve a problem based solely on logic, students with a knowledge in the arts can look at that same problem both logistically, and creatively providing them with more insight on the problem. Arts knowledge also has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child, and has proven to help level the learning field across socio-economic boundaries. It strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, adds to overall academic achievement and school success. When a student is involved in artistic thinking, it truly teaches them life skills, such as developing an informed perception, articulating a vision, learning to solve problems, and make decisions. Not only this, but it also aids in building self-confidence and self-discipline, developing the ability to imagine what might be, and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish. Being in any type of arts program, whether it’s acting, or dancing, film, or general art, self-confidence and self-discipline are strongly provided. With open arms, art programs accept any student that might be having a hard time in school, or at home, and gives them something to be proud of. Whether it be a painting they painted or performing in the school play, being in an art program lets you use your passion and soul to make or do something that you are proud of. By painting, training, or practicing hard, the student achieves their goal using self-discipline for in the arts, you can only be as good as you yourself try. Art programs throughout the world give any students the right to speak what is on their minds and in their hearts and to not be judged, but praised for it. Creativity, soul, heart, passion, hard-work are just some examples of what the arts can give back to you. Having art programs in schools is essential. A very intelligent man named Ken Robinson made a delightful speech regarding art programs in schools on the website TED.com. Besides being British and hilarious, he makes substantial points and tells such wonderful funny stories! An influential quote from his speech is "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you're not going to come up with anything original." This is quite a true statement. He isn't saying that being creative necessarily means that you are wrong. He is just saying that when being creative, you're willing to take the chance and not care about the results, your answer will be genuine and unique. One extraordinary point he makes in the speech is that as we grow older we are being "educated out of our creativity”. As we go through school we quickly learn that mistakes are terrible, and strive for perfection. Memorizing facts, knowing systems and orders, but what happened to the creativity we had as kids? One last point that he makes, might not be completely true, but is funny and did make some sense. “Public education is made for making