Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people.

This week Aimee Mortimore states why she thinks art should be at the core of education.

The arts are a vast topic, encompassing painting, music, literature, and dance - one hardly knows where to begin.

But I believe people must be given the time to express themselves through art, which is deserved for many reasons.

In schools, art is being deprioritised and is not sufficiently valued on the curriculum.

If we want to raise smart and well-rounded children, they should be allowed the space to create what their mind sees.

Dedicating more time to art lessons would be beneficial for any child.

Art expresses thoughts and feelings. It acts as a self-exploration, developing personal ideas, making sense of life and at the end we are left with a beautiful record of it.

Art is a sharing of a piece of one’s mind with others, something both powerful and vulnerable.

Yet there are too many young children who shy away from art and cry out 'but I can’t draw'.

But art should have no boundaries. It is about making you feel something and it does not matter if it is 'technically good.'

If a painting, sculpture or drawing represents what the artist wants, it is a success. Art is very liberal subject that responds well to open-minded people.

In young children's drawings, we notice their lack of inhibition gives them the freedom to create the most pure and honest of pieces.

Quite often, young children enjoy expressing themselves through art before they can write and we should nurture and encourage their artistic expression. Art is open to any ability and does not have to cost schools much money. They can be resourceful and use recycled items to build constructions or simple paper and colours to inspire wonderful drawings.

By Aimee Mortimore