Comitments to the arts

If there is one thing good in American schools, it's the place for the arts.
In elementary schools, you have one music teacher and one drawing teacher ; kids have one hour of each in one week from kindergarten until 5th grade. They are proud to learn songs with their recorder and to paint "à la manière de".
In middle schools and highschools, it's not optional and you can take two specials between music, dance, arts, acting, cheerleaders, sports... and you will have some hours each week in your timetable... Those teachers are respected ; kids have a lot of opportunities to perform in front of others. For example, during the football season, the school team will have a game each friday evening, during the half time the school band will play and cheerladers will support the team during the game.
They have dedicated program for the arts in a lot of public schools. That's why we are impressed to see so many teenagers good at sport, dance, voice, music...
When they go to college, the arts are well placed too. We had the chance to see a Nutcracker performance, one major cast was in the chemistry department and at the same time in the dance department  and it's not unusual. You can mix your courses easily and both departments are important for the success of the university. The department of music has also very good players, we saw a very good performance of a violonist in 2009.