First, most studies agree that arts education helps create a happy and safe learning environment for students (Kim, 2015, p. 193). In his research, Kim also acknowledged that the arts promote creativity, critical thinking, and resilience (p. 196). Similarly, Turketo and Smith (2014) found that education in the arts helped students realize their full potential (p. 9). Although each of these articles discusses the social benefits of arts education, each of their studies is flawed. In Kim’s (2015) research, there is no information regarding the schools’ levels of violence prior to the implementation of arts courses. Additionally, the author did not include the survey that he had each participant take after their exposure to arts courses or the participants’ background information. In Turketo and Smith’s (2014) study, they did not include specific data to support their findings; however, they did provide a sufficient amount of information through the inclusion of questionnaires. Because of these flaws, each of these studies should be carefully examined; however, it is reasonable to assume that arts education has positive social benefits for …show more content…
Maguire, Mishook, Garcia, and de Gaillande (2013) expand upon this idea by discussing various academic benefits that “multiple pathways” in the arts provide, such as increased graduation rate, increased average attendance, and increased desire to attend college (pp. 21-22). The researchers found correlations between New York City schools with several arts courses and increased attendance rates, graduation rates, and desire to attend four-year colleges. The school with the most arts programs had an 88.9% attendance rate and a 58.3% graduation rate, which was higher than New York City’s total graduation rate average. Additionally, 83% of the students who attended the school with a high level of arts programs desired to attend a four-year university (Maguire et al., 2013, pp. 21-22). While Maguire et al. did support their claim that various forms of arts courses provide students with additionally tools to succeed academically, their research was limited to students in schools where arts courses were abundant. Their argument could have been further supported through the inclusion of school systems in which arts courses were