Persuasive Arts Proposal

Katherine Quinn

125 Harvard Avenue

Rockville Centre, NY 11570

June 2026

Ms. Craft

Public School 123

New York

 

Dear Principal Craft,

 

I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Katherine Quinn, and I am an Art Teacher at Public School 123. I am writing in advocacy of my students, in the wake of recent budget cuts and their implications with regards to the survival of arts programs within the district. As an artist myself, I have experienced the impact that having a robust arts program has on critical thinking, creativity, and personal confidence. 

 

At a kindergarten level, I would implement the arts by teaching both process art and product art. Process art, or art that posits play and experimentation as its focus, can help kindergarteners develop a sense of confidence, since it is completely led by the child. Children gain a sense of pride looking at a finger-painting, clay sculpture, or papier-mache creation made entirely by themselves, with no interference from adults. Exercising agency in this way flexes the muscles of critical thinking, as the children learn through trial and error which colors, compositions, and styles they most prefer. This will allow children to develop their own opinions, which is a skill that they will carry with them regardless of whether or not they choose to pursue the arts as a career. 

 

Product art, which prioritizes step-by-step processes and a cohesive final product, flexes a different set of skills, and is no less important. Product art can be demonstrated through the use of models and examples (ie. “create this paper bag puppet based on a teacher-made puppet that is passed around the room.”) This can build confidence, as children are encouraged to push past challenges, such as lack of fine motor skills, in order to create something that they may have initially perceived to be daunting, or beyond their skill level. By breaking the project down into numbered steps that the teacher can demonstrate to the classroom, a complex concept becomes tangible and accessible to the children. This experience in turn becomes valuable throughout all of their future academic and career pursuits, as they gain the confidence to tackle large-scale projects.

 

In addition to this anecdotal evidence, research further proves the academic benefit of arts programs in public education. In a recent study from The Houston Education Research Consortium, schools with arts programs saw a 3.6 percent decrease in disciplinary action, 13 percent increase from the standard deviation in standardized test scores for writing, and a purported 8 percent increase in students’ compassion for others. From this, one can conclude that the positive effects of the arts in education stretch far beyond the immediacy of the art classroom.

 

I hope that this letter has given sufficient evidence as to why the preservation of an arts program is so imperative for our students. As an educator, it is so important to promote critical thinking, and stand in line with the best interests of students, as they are our future.

 

Best,

Katherine Quinn

 

*Please note that this letter is completely composed of my own thoughts and careful research, with zero interference from ChatGPT or any form of artificial intelligence.