Arts Advocacy

This topic is somewhat complicated and one that, personally, I have been struggling with. It isn't difficult to understand, so much as it is rather difficult to come to terms with. The fact that, as an art educator, it won't be enough to be a good (or even great) teacher, to have an excellent and challenging program, or to be ready and able to do your best at your job of teaching students how to express themselves - you also have to work to prove that your life and work are important enough for a school system to include them. Frankly, I find it insulting and demeaning, not to mention horribly ignorant. I know the many reasons why it has become necessary to stand up for the arts in education, but the need to constantly push and pull and tug at every possible loose end and loophole in order to even include art in a school's curriculum is unfortunate, disrespectful and humiliating.
I work now in a number of ways to prove the value and necessity of art in the world - in fact, it feels like I have been trying to argue the case for years now. One of the biggest stumbling blocks I've encountered is when the value of the arts and that of sports & recreation come into opposition. The values of competitive sport are many, but they have become a money-making industry in and of themselves for many school systems, and I would wager that a number of school communities and school boards would rather drop history or geography from their curriculum than athletics, to say the least of the arts. This may come off as an unfair generalization, but I have encountered a number of individuals over the years whose beliefs back up this idea.
I think there are numerous risks involved in confronting these types of individuals and this sort of mindset, and I don't really know how one could confront / deal with the issues. It would be hard to "go with the flow" if you were at odds with the majority of the community or school establishment, but I would hope that there would be enough understanding and agreement on both sides that a form of consensus could be found.