One of the key advantages of arts-integrated schools is that they’re all about celebrating rather than bullying creative kids.
Even in today’s climate of encouraging more diversity, equity, and inclusion, conventional educational institutions continue to be breeding grounds for bullies.
As a result, artistically inclined children and young adults in these schools are often bullied or ridiculed for seeing the world in a different way. And this can lead to mental health issues later in life. Especially anxiety.
Bullying and the Resulting Anxiety
Bullying is much more serious than just name-calling. Research shows that children who are bullied are more likely to develop social and mental health problems in adulthood than children who are physically abused.
They are twice as likely to develop low esteem and five times more likely to experience anxiety as they grow older. And since many people prone to anxiety tend to be creative, this fact is even more daunting.
Scientists are only now beginning to look at the link between creativity and anxiety disorders. It’s difficult to ascertain a specific answer as to why they’re linked. However, it seems that having anxiety and being creative both involve deep thought processing.
In the act of producing something new, the brain must process different pieces of information. Then it has to organize them into a workable outcome. This is also the case for problem-solving. And since the anxious brain is in a perpetual state of solving a perceived problem, it must explore a multitude of options and angles to understand what works and what doesn’t.
The problem is, creative folks with anxiety can get caught in the processing information loop to the point of being paralyzed. Then they can’t move forward.
Who Is At Risk for Bullying?
Of course, it’s not just students with anxiety who are getting bullied. There are SO many reasons a student might become a victim of bullying. And there’s no clear formula.
Some students report that race is an issue. Others say they are teased for their weight or other physical attributes. Generally speaking, there is usually at least one of the following risk factors:
- Overweight or underweight
- Wearing glasses or “uncool” clothes
- Being new to a school
- Perceived as weak or unable to defend themselves
- Suffering anxiety or depression
- Having low self-esteem
- Not popular or having few friends
- Unable to get along well with others
What is certain is that LGBTQ students are among the highest risk for being targets of bullying. According to a National School Climate Survey, about 74% of students reported being verbally bullied and about 36% reported being physically bullied due to their sexual orientation.
More than half of the LGBTQ students in the study said they felt unsafe at school and that fear led to about 30% of them missing at least one day of school in the previous month.
This is not the case in schools with an arts-integrated curriculum though.
Celebrating Rather Than Bullying Creative Kids Through Arts-Integration
Arts-integrated schools go the distance to stress the importance of creating as a means to increase empathy, insight, and an understanding of themselves and others.
Students are encouraged to try alternative forms of creativity. A painter may take up dance, or a writer may go into the sculpture studio. Doing so helps to relieve anxiety about how others – and most importantly they, themselves – see their work.
Arts educators also stress how crucial it is to not fall into the trap of believing that caring for mental health puts a damper on creativity. Students thrive among a community of other creative types who are aware of mental health issues.
Finally, there’s strength in solidarity. To attend a school with other like-minded creative students who have a passion for the arts means that students are rarely singled out for being different. Authenticity is celebrated and not ridiculed.
Take It From an Arts-Integrated School Graduate
In a dream world, no one would judge one another. That’s not reality though. Especially for students in middle school and high school.
These years are fraught with bullying and judging. And those who are considered strange or weird (often creative types) get the brunt of the abuse.
Yet, the environment of an arts-integrated middle/high school is notably different.
In her senior year, a now graduate from Arts Academy in the Woods in Fraser, Michigan, wanted to share with the school board how much her education at AAW meant to her. She sent them an article about “what makes Arts Academy in the Woods such a great school.”
“I’m not going to lie,” Rebecca Kahn wrote, “Arts Academy in the Woods is still a high school.” In other words, it’s not a completely judgment-free zone.
“But the difference between AAW and basically any other high school is that the strange students outweigh the normal students,” Rebecca noted. “Our school’s population is made up of outcasts who didn’t fit in at other schools.”
As a result, there is far less bullying.
Rebecca put it best when she wrote, “The students at AAW understand that we all have our own crap to deal with. While at my previous school, judgment was a culture. If you didn’t have a specific brand of clothes, then you were the odd one out. And if you didn’t conform to different fads, you were the weird person. But at Arts Academy being different is never a concern.”
If only the whole world were more like an arts academy middle/high school…
Interested in Arts Integrated Education for Your Child?
Now that you understand how arts-integrated schools are all about celebrating rather than bullying creative kids, you may see it as a great solution for your child.
If you have a creative kid who loves the arts and struggles with being bullied in a regular school, don’t hesitate to contact us to take a tour of our arts-integrated middle/high school.
Give your child the fighting chance he or she needs to thrive in the world as an artist and sensitive soul.