The word ‘arts’ refers to imagination. Imagination results in creativity. Creativity results in physical and mental upliftment of an individual. Without creativity this world would become a desert where it is impossible for the human beings to survive. Unfortunately the present day world has failed to realize the importance of arts.

India was once a centre of arts and creativity

Scholars across the world come to common terms when it comes to Indian tradition in arts and creativity. The contributions in the field of Astrology, astronomy, mathematics, etc has once made India the world’s destination in the field of knowledge. World renowned scientists and innovative businessmen reached greater heights with the power of imagination. However in India, arts subjects such as Literature, Politics, cultural studies and history are losing significance. Other arts subjects such as language, religion and philosophy too are losing their significance in India.

Present day education is a means to find a better paid job

Now education has become a means to land up a job and that has resulted in arts subjects losing its importance. It is often asked whether studying arts have any significance in the modern age of technology. Today students who finishes their class 12 education are confronted with the question “what is next; engineering or medicine?” They are forced to take up any one of the two to lead a successful life, in a world where success is often defined in terms of the money one earns. Learning arts subjects is considered as a waste of time in our globalized world and is considered as something not worth pursuing in terms of remuneration.

Students compete to get placed in good companies

The approach adopted by the students and their parents in India can be considered as reasonable and practical since lakhs of students fight their way to secure a job through campus placements. The admission requirements in Indian universities is increasingly becoming tough where students are required to score even above 99 per cent marks. In most of the leading management and technology institutes in the country, the cut off marks for securing admission is now 99 per cent.

In such a competitive environment, students are willing to study any subjects that would fetch them a decently paying job. Most of the students consider colleges as a training centre which equips them with the technical skills that are required by employers. Colleges are no longer considered as centers of excellence where the vast world of knowledge is explored.

Arts education makes everything complete

In the present day of globalization, where the world is crowded with so-called knowledge workers, communication skills and the ability to work in a team are ultimately necessary to be successfully. In addition to the technical skills, one needs to have various other skills which will distinguish one from another in order to excel in the area of employment. In the present day work environment, employees need to be constantly motivated and encouraged to get things done to achieve the goals that have been set. This requires arts as it makes everything complete.

Students have an incomplete picture of education

The problem with the Indian students and parents is that they have an incomplete picture of the whole scenario, where each of them thinks that they are correct. The ability to combine different perspectives into a bigger complete picture is more meaningful than narrow expertise in just one area alone. Various subjects in arts provide us with different perspectives from vantage points distinguished by time, place and society. Critical thinking is the logical outcome of being able to simultaneously develop different ideas in ones’ mind.

Texts books cannot solve our problems

The problems that we face in our day to day life cannot be solved with the knowledge gained from text books alone. The main objective of college education is to encourage one to think critically and ask sensible questions. The advantages with liberal arts education is that, it shapes the students into all rounder’s and  well informed citizens. Such students will have wide range of skills as a result of elective or voluntary courses that makes them better educated in certain subjects.

In our struggle to overcome the present global economic crisis all the traditional strategies that are employed to achieve positive results ends up in problems. This signifies the importance of liberal arts education which makes the people resilient, who can bring about creative solutions to problems that the world faces today. Such people have new ways that will help in trying things from a different angle.

Making arts education attractive

What we need now is to make arts education more attractive to students in terms of its benefits and scope. The method of teaching arts subjects should be made interesting. There is an increasing need to preserve arts subjects along with other technical subjects.

The new approach is to design arts subjects with a professional outlook and develop new areas along with enhancing the existing opportunities. Learning becomes meaningful when it has the potential to generate practical opportunities. When the benefit of the subject learned is understood, it will naturally get transformed into a career that is highly attractive.

We need a change in perspective

In a country where people consider getting a highly paid job is important than anything else, the arts subjects should be made capable of meeting the present day changes. It will make the arts education more appealing to the students who otherwise think technical education is the only way to lead a prosperous life. The changes in the arts education should reflect the present day problems and their causes which will make it authentic and a course worth pursuing. This requires considerable amount of homework from the part of the academicians who works in the field of arts to shape the arts education based on the requirement of the present day students and more importantly parents. Let us hope that arts education will regain its glory which it enjoyed a few decades back.