As a visual artist, and now a student of music, one would think that I wouldn't spend much time feeling torn on the subject of arts education.  As a tax payer, a parent, and a pragmatist, I spend a lot of time rolling the subject around in my head.  As there have been some significant studies that show the link between musical knowledge and more powerful aquistion of science and math skills, as well as long term memeory, I don't feel the need to bore anyone with a soap box rendition of why music education is so important - at any age.  I have long struggled with the slow and steady decline in our visual arts and artisian education.  There are a number of contributing factors to its decline, the least of which is its cost.  Yes, I said the 'least of which is its cost'.  I remember an education undergrad student in college who could not fathom how anyone could recieve a grade in art.  "How do you get a grade in Art?"  In our socity, one of the messures of knowledge, gained and reaccessed by an individual, is th