I understand that Elph, it was just an example. I just think he's got everybody on the defensive all the time and it detracts from promoting discussion or asking challenging questions.

For instance:
@Goofle
-If the funding is readily available do you still think the government should exclude it?
-Are there things currently not being funded that you think should have priority over the arts?

What's the rest of your question? K-12 in general is liberal arts.. so yeh if they cut funding there would be no school. Would I be mad if they cut band or something specific? Not really, I went to a tiny school and we didn't have **** for elective options, it's not like there is a program currently in place that affords the luxuries you're describing to every school system in America.

I love the 80's.

Anyhoo, I don't think the arts or funding related to the arts makes any sense at the federal level. State level perhaps, but federal? Nah. Unless they decided to fund a prog. rock supergroup or something. That would be rad.

Luxuries? They are just classes. And most High Schools in this country have sports, art, and drama electives. Exactly what are you all up in arms about here? That the Government affords a tiny piece of their budget to preserving the arts?

WTF?

That's become blatantly obvious of late.

What about National Parks? What about the Smithsonian Institute?

National parks count as the arts? Interesting.

I consider this art. Half Dome: Yosemite National Park.

https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qim...t_to_webp=true

And yet you don't consider 4'33'' to be music...

Beat me to it.

I'm not up in arms, I already said more than once that I agree with you. Electives are luxuries.. As I said, I grew up in a small town with very few electives, especially compared to the rich, blue ribbon schools in the surrounding towns. School is set up to provide us with a basic understanding of 4 subjects: english, math, science, and history (maybe 5 with the push for secondary languages nowadays).. anything schools offer beyond that is a luxury. They are not "just classes", computers cost money, software licensing costs money, musical instruments and sports equipment cost money... You asked me if I would be upset if they cut a particular program and my answer was no. I understand that not every school can afford to offer the same things as one another and like I said there is no government program that assists in making that happen..

It's silence presented as art.

Electives doesn't mean a school is blue ribbon. I grew up in a small town too. I'd be willing to bet that a vast majority of high schools in the US offer sports and arts programs. You're making it sound like it's some sort of privileged thing. It's not. It's common place. Your school just flat out sucked.

Just looked it up:

As of 2014 there were 14,048 High Schools in the US that had football programs. That's an average of 281 per state. Not exactly exclusive.