If you have been reading this blog for a while, thank you! If you haven’t become a “follower”, would you consider doing so? I don’t have an extremely large audience right now, but I’d love to know who’s out there. You can also subscribe to posts—there are gadgets in the sidebar where you can do either (or both).
I just heard (thank you, Jane!) about a really interesting-sounding book that came out last year, Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art: The Effects of Education in the Visual and Performing Arts on the Achievements and Values of Young Adults
, by James S. Catterall, Professor and Chair of the Faculty at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He’s spent twelve years studying how intensive involvement in the arts during middle and high school has affected students into adulthood, asking “Is it engagement in the arts that matters? Or is engagement per se a crucial factor in the success of our students?” This is an in-depth study, comparing the results of involvement in the arts to involvement in sports (both matter, but in different ways), and looking especially at how low-income students are affected (especially well). Now none of this really surprises me, but I’m so glad to hear about the study—I have to ask again, are the arts really extra? Here’s more information about the book.
