By Maya Koeppen ’17

Every high school student in MCPS is required to take a credit worth of art, but quite frankly, it should be a little more than that. The average student spends hours in a single school day listening to lectures and reading from textbooks, all the while absorbing the thoughts of others rather than cultivating their own. Therein lies the problem. Art classes enable students to not only demonstrate a medium of self-expression but to think in a way that is mentally refreshing. Whether it’s writing a poem or taking a photograph, your mind, not your peers or your teachers, plays the creative role in your education. Such courses embody a fully immersive education where all outcomes are self-made and restrictions are limited.

After all, does this not parallel what the real world expects? Sure there are rules and expectations in the work force, but at the end of the day, what one has to show for is persistently self-reflecting. Today, after high school, everyone wants to know what you can do to benefit society. Knowing the quadratic equation won’t better the world, but creative thinking will.