Educating a nation

Running late for work this a.m., chasing down socks, shoes and assorted kids paraphernalia, I stopped in my tracks to watch a news story about the first school to have a motion picture studio. The charter school featured on the Today Show, allows film makers and other media companies to use the studio only if they use the school's students as extras and support staff . What a great concept! Lately, I've been thinking about the arts and its impact on academic achievement. Schools budgets have forced draconian cuts in art, music and other areas. When you're trimming down to the bone, the mindset is to save reading, writing and 'rithmetic. But its short-sighted. Arts has a tremendous emotional and intellectual boost on academics, a contention supported in studies and laid out well by a blogger here.