A study done by Steven N. Kelly, Ph.D. has found that students who enroll in art lessons benefit in unexpected ways. Continued participation in art classes was found to increase graduation rates as well as decrease dropout rates.
Unlike other academic pursuits, every student who participated in continued art classes received the same benefits, not just the talented students. This positive by-product of taking art lessons shows up as higher math and verbal scores on the SAT, and positive social behavior. According to Steven Kelly's study, there are few other areas in the typical academic curriculum that provides the same type of comprehensive overall growth and learning in the same way as taking regular art lessons.
