The study found that students in the program performed better in six categories of literacy and critical thinking skills — including thorough description, hypothesizing and reasoning — than did students who were not in the program. The children were assessed as they discussed a passage in a children’s book, Cynthia Kadohata’s “Kira-Kira,” and a painting by Arshile Gorky, “The Artist and His Mother.”

This topic is particularly relevant in the current school environment, where a pressure to perform at preset levels in math and English often comes at the expense of more creative programs. A large majority of Americans support more arts education in public and private schools, and statistics provided by the advocacy group Americans for the Arts seem extremely encouraging, asserting that children who engage in creative activities several times each week are much more likely to recieve rewards for academic performance, take up reading for pleasure, and attend extracurricular classes or youth groups. Though a basic competence in writing, math and science is essential to every student, ignoring the arts removes a crucial element from our educational equation. In teaching kids how to use their creative faculties, we move beyond preparing them for industrial jobs and closer to making them into well-rounded adults who are ready to adapt to the rapidly changing world in which we live.