A balanced education includes a comprehensive and sequential study of all three branches of learning — the humanities, the sciences, and the arts. Education in the fine arts -— dance, drama, music, and the visual arts — aims to provide all students, not only the gifted and talented,with knowledge and skills in the arts through creation, performance,and study.The arts provide a sense of civilization — they endow studentswith an ability to transcend boundaries of language, culture, time,and space.The arts embody the human imagination — they define and distinguish us as human beings.The arts play a role in cognition — they provide new and different ways to access meaning, to perceive, to problem solve, to understand. The arts give students a means to express themselves creatively, in sounds, images, gestures, and words, using the vocabularies of artistic communication. They “allow humans to say things that they could not say in other ways” (Eisner). The arts develop the critical elements necessary to interpret and respond to the artistic expression of others — they contribute to the ability to make informed opinions and choices about the products of the arts.The arts take place in the context of real work — they allow students to make art while studying art. Learning by doing is essential in the arts. The arts foster student motivation — the richness of art experiences enlivens learning, and provides a sense of satisfaction, joy, and personal fulfillment.