The well-rounded student not only has to meet state standards and demonstrate proficiency in the foundational skills of reading, writing, mathematics, and science, but also has to be able to make inter connections among disparate disciplines. In a culture that rewards students for evaluating and synthesizing increasing amounts of disconnected information, studying the visual arts encourages the breakdown of walls that separate these disciplines. It offers students the opportunity to explore the subjects of the standard curriculum through a different lens and to forge links among them.--- National Endowment for the Humanities, Picturing America