Throughout the ages the arts have been used to express happiness, sorrow, love, and many other very real human emotions. The arts are often asked to express that which cannot be expressed through words. The Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) suggest benchmarks in the understanding of the arts for all students. Why is it important for each student to understand the significance of the arts in a historical, cultural, or aesthetic sense? Should students be encouraged to create meaningful, interpretive, original, or creative expressions? Will meaningful arts instruction give students the confidence they need to explore and create at the very highest of educational standards? Anthropologists have found evidence of the use of art for purposes of discussion as early as 70,000 years ago. The arts that are created today will one day be our contribution to this ongoing discussion of the human experience.