So many of us have learned about the fine arts through our education.

For those who came up during the last 40 years there was music, art and drama all as a part of the curriculum.

Then came budget cuts, and because art is not one of the basic reading, writing or arithmetic, the fine arts were cut.

In the last 15 or so years, the arts have gone by the wayside for the most part, dependent not on a regular teacher but on grants and the volunteerism of local artists in the community.

That’s why it’s refreshing to see the arts take center stage at schools like Dallas County High School, where students learn the basics and more.

Now, some of these students have returned art to the community through their selection on a state level to exhibit their works.

What English or math or history or science teacher could not include art in their lesson plans?

After all, Shakespeare had to stage his plays, which means drawing sets and creating costumes.

The founder of the Cartesian coordinate system, Descartes, used his creation to develop cartography or the making of maps — an art. Indeed, the foundation of music and art and of the language of the poets rests in quarter notes, prisms and iambic pentameter, among others.

In history, so much is fine art — the music of an era, the painting of an era, the writing of an era. There is no end.

And the world of science presents so many opportunities for art and music. The very basics of which make our instruments or decide our colors.

So it is that these Dallas County High School students have the best of all. Their school should be applauded.