When we think about “the arts,” often we go huge: the Louvre, Broadway, Swan Lake, Picasso. Perhaps without even realizing it, though, many parents instinctively know the value of the arts and incorporate them into our children’s lives in much smaller ways. Otherwise, why would we give our toddlers that first pack of crayons?

Brian Kisida, assistant research professor at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, says the arts can give kids who may not be math whizzes or star athletes a place to excel, and finding that place to shine leads to all-important engagement.

“There are correlational studies that show kids enrolling in high school arts programs are more likely to graduate and go to college.”

In addition, he says the arts can have the larger societal effect of increasing tolerance and empathy. “Art has a broadening effect because it presents a perspective on reality that challenges preconceived ideas and makes kids look at something from outside their comfort zone.”

My hope is that we won’t as a nation dismiss “the arts” — these everyday achievements that have the potential to make our children smarter, more open, more enriched, more confident, happier — as unessential. They are much more valuable than a Picasso on a wall.

Read the source article at Washington Post