One school of thought holds that schools should give precedence to core subjects, while some assert that non-academic subjects such as music and sport should also be included in the curriculum. This essay attempts to shed light on both perspectives before concluding that I am in favour of the latter notion.
On the one hand, focusing on academic subjects may be beneficial in several ways. First and foremost, such courses can offer learners various scholarships from reputable universities. Those students who are underprivileged, therefore, can share financial burdens with their parents by means of having good academic performance. Secondly, possessing great academic background could guarantee students’ financially viable careers. For instance, programmers in big firms, namely Google or Microsoft can have high salaries besides a range of perks in their jobs.
On the other hand, there exists a host of reasons why I am convinced that the aforementioned merits pale in comparison with the enormous benefits that non-academic subjects could offer. One key rationale is that partaking in music and art can reduce mental health problems such as stress, and depression by the fact that they provide students with a way to express their emotions, thereby reducing the high suicide rate caused by mental health problems. Another justification is that learning non-academic subjects can help the student reach their full potential. It is noteworthy that focusing excessively on academic subjects is eroding the creativity of students because those courses limit the participation of the right hemisphere. This is the reason why humans lose more and more geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci.
In a nutshell, even though it is irrefutable that concentrating on core subjects may benefit a bulk of students, I would contend that teaching artistic and athletic subjects would be of paramount importance to the healthy development of students.