The arts are essential for all, according to Rutgers University psychology professor Dr. Maurice Elias, and when it comes to students’ mental wellness, he sees a relationship between arts education and social-emotional learning.
“The arts are so important for giving our kids opportunities for expression and feeling just competent during the school day,” Dr. Elias says in an interview with Chalkbeat Newark’s Patrick Wall. “The SEL connection is that you can’t actually be effective in the arts without SEL. [For example,] one of the SEL skills is empathy. What kind of an artist are you going to be without empathy?”
Read the full interview here.