Education Week – Jay P. Greene, Brian Kisida, Cari A. Bogulski, Anne Kraybill, Collin Hitt, & Daniel H. Bowen
“Though the arts receive relatively little attention from policymakers and school leaders, exposing young people to art and culture can have a big impact on their development…the important effects of art and cultural experiences on students can be rigorously measured. In fact, we recently conducted two studies…The results across our two experiments were remarkably consistent: These cultural experiences improve students’ knowledge about the arts, as well as their desire to become cultural consumers in the future. Exposure to the arts also affects the values of young people, making them more tolerant and empathetic. We suspect that their awareness of different people, places, and ideas through the arts helps them appreciate and accept the differences they find in the broader world. Arts experiences boost critical thinking, teaching students to take the time to be more careful and thorough in how they observe the world…Some of these qualities may help students earn a living, but their importance has more to do with students’ development into cultured and humane people.”(more)