Michelle Pettey: Students need Arts, PE for expression

As an educator in Wake County and as a parent of a student attending a Wake County school, I am urging all educators, parents and residents to take a stand against eliminating Art, Music, and PE in elementary schools. If this happens, the people who will be affected the most are the students, and it is the students that we should be focusing on.

All children deserve a quality education that embraces enriching their minds, their creativity and their physical well-being. Eliminating Art, Music and PE should not even be considered as a way to gain funds to reduce classroom sizes.

I am sure there are other options that could be explored that would not negatively impact the quality of education we are capable of delivering and that our children are deserving of.

Personally, I would rather have a classroom of 24 students who are able to be enriched through the Arts and through PE than I would a classroom of 16 students who are not given the opportunity to have a break from academic rigor and to express themselves in other ways.

Our children are our future. Let’s protect their education!

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Michelle Pettey: Students need Arts, PE for expression."