Working Hypothesis 1:

Taking away theater programs within secondary schools would prevent theater kids/teens from expressing themselves and pursuing their passion. In other words, this would not be satisfying the “full child’s” needs.

For my researched persuasive argument essay, I will be arguing that the performing arts boosts happiness and academic performance among children. I will additionally be arguing that the “full child,” or all children, would be hurt if their schools took away theater opportunities, for they would be lacking a creative outlet. I believe that backing up my argument with statistics on the health benefits of performing in plays, musicals, etc. will successfully defend my argument. I also believe that providing sources on the negative effects of children performing in theater {perhaps the negative effects would be unhealthy competition among children, parent/teacher pressure to be the best performer, self-esteem issues after not getting the role you want, etc.} would make my essay extremely interesting to read and counteract my argument.

Working Hypothesis 2 {maybe in the near future}: 

If my first hypothesis does not work, I would like to write about Catholicism being the greatest reason why antisemitism exists in the world.

Five Academic Sources: 

1. “A symphony within: Frequent participation in performing arts predicts higher positive mental health in young adults”

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621009473

Background: This article poses the question as to whether or not the performing arts help the mental health of young adults/adolescents. It also dives into some of the psychological and societal benefits of getting involved in the performing arts and merely the arts in general. It additionally discusses the fact that kids/young adults from well-off backgrounds have more artistic opportunities than those who do not, basically.   

How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to back up my argument on the performing arts being a beneficial tool to heal community wounds and young minds. 

Quotes/Notes: 

“‘Music can connect us to our earlier selves and to our better selves to come. It can remind us of where we fit on the timeline of human achievement, an ultimate value of art,’ (Marsalis, 2009, p. 13). Wynton Marsalis, Pulitzer prize-winning composer, trumpet player, and jazz legend, describes the transcendent value he sees in music.”

• This quote by Wynton Marsalis can most certainly be used in my introductory paragraph. I believe it sums up the arts and my views on the subject perfectly.   

“During young adulthood, childhood passions often give way to higher education and career goals; yet these childhood passions, such as art, may be important to prioritize for mental health, among other reasons.”

• Basically states my point. 

“‘The three constructs of positive mental health generally acknowledged in the literature are emotional, social, and psychological well-being (Keyes, 2002, 2005).’

• Emotional well-being is made up of positive effects and life satisfaction. Social well-being includes feelings of social contribution, integration, and self-actualization. Psychological well-being is made up of self acceptance, personal growth, autonomy, and purpose.  

“The healing properties of creative activities have long been identified. From music to singing to writing and even comedy, art therapy is a well-recognized, though underutilized tool. Creative activities have been used for managing depression, anxiety, stress, and mental distress related to chronic illness and trauma, and for promoting positive emotions, social connection, and self-efficacy for people with mental illness (Baker and Mazza, 2004; Crawford and Caltabiano, 2011; Olderog Millard and Smith, 1989; Pizarro, 2004; Reynolds and Lim, 2007; Ruud, 2008; Schnee, 1996).” 

• A possible quote to back up my argument.  

“In an observational, thirteen-day study of 658 young adults, a cross-lagged analysis of diary entries suggested that participating in creative expression led to increased emotional wellbeing and overall positive mental health in the following days (Conner et al., 2018).”

• I can say that this can also pertain to children. I also like that this includes an observational study, for it makes my claim/argument stronger. I can use this to back up my claim on the performing arts and its health benefits as a whole. 

“In a qualitative study of thirteen black men in choirs, participants attributed their sense of belonging, and ability to cope with challenges in school and in the community, heal from experiences of racism, and succeed in school to their participation in choir (Hymon, 2020).”

• This just proves to show how powerful/helpful the performing arts can be. Not just for kids, but for society as a whole. It can bring communities together and heal past traumas.  

“Creative expression has been shown to promote intrinsic motivation and passion, and may accordingly promote the regular attainment of a state of flow (Vallerand et al., 2003).”

• Another quote I can use to back up my argument. 

“In theoretical and empirical investigations, flow has therefore been hypothesized as a mediator between creative activities and heightened wellbeing (Mihaly, 1997; Rogatko, 2009).”

• A strong fact to know. Interesting. 

“Studies have found access to arts participation to be lower for students of color in elementary and middle school (Parsad and Spiegelman, 2012), high school (Elpus, 2014), and in adults (Rabkin and Hedberg, 2011).”

• IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND

“Foster and Marcus Jenkins find that well-resourced parents (in terms of education and income) were more likely to provide art or music lessons for their children (Foster and Marcus Jenkins, 2017). Using propensity score weighting, a fairly rigorous method of mitigating observed confounders, the study suggested that privilege and wealth are highly related to opportunities such as music and arts lessons.”

• IMPORTANT: Does this mean that families who are not super well-off are less likely to put their children in performing arts programs, because they do not have the money or educational connections?  

“This study showed that the positive association between art and music lessons and academic achievement and child development outcomes loses significance after confounders of wealth and privilege are controlled.”

• This is upsetting because performing arts programs should be available to all kids. Not just those whose parents can afford it. 

“The authors interpret their findings as suggesting that benefits of participation in the arts found in previous studies may be detecting family resources and privilege rather than the effects of arts themselves (Foster and Marcus Jenkins, 2017).” 

• There seems to be a relationship between the arts and wealth. The performing arts seem to depend on the wealth of families who can afford to give their children artistic opportunities. 

“Accordingly, it remains unclear how arts participation may contribute to outcomes such as health, mental illness, and positive mental health.”

• Well, this does not help. 

“This is one of the first studies to investigate whether increased participation in performing arts is associated with higher levels of positive mental health. These results suggest that, while young adults from privileged backgrounds are more likely to participate in performing arts, participation in performing arts is meaningfully linked with positive mental health, regardless of race/ethnicity. Young adulthood is now considered an extended adolescence and an important stage of development (Bonnie et al., 2014).” 

MY TAKEAWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE: There is evidence that the performing arts and the arts in general have positive effects on mental health. However, artistic opportunities are more accessible to white young adults/kids who are from rich, privileged backgrounds. So there is definitely an inequality issue in that regard.     

   

2. “The impact of participation in performing arts on adolescent health and behaviour: a systematic review of the literature”

file:///Users/samanthaszumloz/Downloads/The_Impact_of_Participation_in_Performing_Arts_on_.pdf 

Background: This article offers data from 1994 to 2004 on the effects of performing arts among children and adolescents.  

How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to back up my argument with factual information about the positive effects of children being involved in the performing arts. I may use the information in the middle of my essay to back up my argument. 

Quotes/Notes:

“THIS ARTICLE reports on a systematic review of literature published between 1994 and 2004 on the effects of performing arts for health in young people in non-clinical settings.” 

• Theme of the article. 

“In addition to delivering clinical benefits, arts interventions are seen as capable of addressing key concerns of public health such as coronary heart disease, obesity and sexual health (Arts Council England (ACE), 2004).”

• I find it interesting that the arts are linked to sexual health. Can this be because the arts encourage creative exploration? 

“A recent review by the UK Department of Health (DH) suggests that arts and health should be firmly recognized as integral to health care provision and health care environments (DH, 2007).”

• Pretty cool. As they should be. 

“Identified benefits of participation by young people in arts activity include resisting drugs (Drugs Strategy Directorate, 2002; Starkey & Orme, 2001), managing stress and difficult emotions (Positive Futures, 2005); learning about sexual health (Denman, Pearson, Moody, Davis, & Madeley, 1995); understanding appropriate physical contact (Orme & Salmon, 2002); excitement, satisfaction and fun (Colley & Comber, 2003; Harland et al., 2000; Miller & Budd, 1999); and addressing social exclusion through community integration (Jackson, 2003; Wilkin, Kinder, White, & Doherty, 2003).”

• From my own experience in the performing arts, I can confirm that theater can teach kids appropriate physical contact and how to handle difficult emotions. When you are acting/dancing with your peers on a daily basis, you are bound to have some sort of physical contact with each other. It is important to establish trust and a sense of comfortability before performing anything as a group. A performance works when the performers can trust each other. I can also say that acting in plays, musicals, etc. can help us make sense of our own troubles through relating to the characters we play. Shows like “Hairspray,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” and “Parade” address social exclusion big time. Shows itself can spread awareness about societal issues. A diverse ensemble in a play can additionally spread awareness about social exclusion and smack the problem in the face. 

“While there is a wealth of good practice and a growing evidence of the impact of participation in arts for health, this evidence is unevenly spread (Angus, 2002; Staricoff, 2004; White & Angus, 2003). Many programmes that seek health promotion outcomes through involvement of young people in the performing arts have not been subject to robust evaluation (Allott, Paxton, & Leonard, 1999; Orme & Salmon, 2002).”

• That is so frustrating. Why are medical experts/programs not evaluating the impact of arts hard enough? 

“According to White and Angus (2003), the majority of evaluations are unstructured, reflecting a lack of clarity about the aims of arts for health initiatives. Many evaluations fail to draw on appropriate, sensitive measurement tools and the small size and limited scope of many projects present further difficulty for research.”

• This makes sense. It is not like researchers do not care about the subject. They just have not come to a firm conclusion yet about the impact of the arts in young adults/kids. They also have not been conducting their research properly. They need to do better with that. 

“Systematic reviews are increasingly recognized as valuable forms of research that can produce high quality evidence to inform policy and practice (Mays, Pope, & Popay, 2005). Initially developed in health services research for the synthesis of quantitative studies (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, 2001), systematic review methodologies are increasingly being developed in the social sciences and for qualitative research (Wallace, Croucher, Quilgars, & Baldwin, 2004; Weed, 2005).” 

• Better definition of a systematic review by S. Gopalakrishnan and P. Ganeshkumar from the article “Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis: Understanding the Best Evidence in Primary Healthcare”: “A systematic review is a summary of the medical literature that uses explicit and reproducible methods to systematically search, critically appraise, and synthesize on a specific issue. It synthesizes the results of multiple primary studies related to each other by using strategies that reduce biases and random errors.” {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3894019/#:~:text=A%20systematic%20review%20is%20a,reduce%20biases%20and%20random%20errors.}

“The search was undertaken in July 2004 using the 17 databases identified in Table 1.” 

• I may need to find data from another article that is more up-to-date, because this search was conducted in 2004. It is 2023. 

“Issues of risk and empowerment were also addressed in six of the qualitative studies. The article by Mattingly (2001) is a reflexive account of a qualitative study of a community theatre project with ‘at risk’ teenagers in California, USA. A number of issues arose from the project including the question of representation, which was seen as key to the understanding of the ways in which arts might benefit marginalized teenagers. By empowering this group into forms of self and community representations, the author concluded that community arts can challenge marginalization and stereotyping (Mattingly, 2001).”

• This case can be traced back to the previous article regarding marginalization and the arts. This case can also be used as an example of the arts tackling race issues among children. Race can lead to poor mental health/low self-esteem and violence. The arts can do more than merely improve the mental health/satisfy the full child. It can heal communities. This is basically what the previous article mentioned. 

“Teachers reported academic and social benefits as well as improved student–teacher relationships. The authors concluded that there are positive effects of drama relating to personal benefits although drama may be less effective in raising awareness of relevant community support services.”

• Interesting to know. 

“Two studies focused on sexual health issues. Lloyd and Lyth (2003) examined the impact of a drama production and workshops delivered by a theatre company to 280 pupils in a UK comprehensive school using a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. Reported benefits included improved sexual knowledge and changes in attitudes concerning availability of and access to contraception.” 

• Another thing to note about the benefits of the performing arts. 

“The review demonstrates that there is a need for both quantitative and qualitative research on the health impact of performing arts interventions. Qualitative methods may sometimes be better suited than quantitative methods to address impact and process issues in relation to performing arts for health. However, we noted a focus in some reports on ‘outcomes’ and the use of language and frameworks more appropriate for quantitative research. Hence a key challenge for qualitative research is that of identifying appropriate models and frameworks for analysis…” 

• In other words, there still needs to be more research on the performing arts and its mental health benefits. MY TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE: There are clearly benefits for children who perform in theatrical shows and those who watch them. However, there is not enough proper research to make concrete conclusions about the data. 

3. “Education and Dramatic Art”

file:///Users/samanthaszumloz/Downloads/9780203134351_previewpdf.pdf

Background: This article critiques the dramatic arts in educational settings and the brief history of the dramatic arts in schools.  

How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to give some general context about the dramatic arts, how it is used in schools, and the history behind the subject. However, this book was published in 1989, so I may need to find another source that is more up-to-date.    

4. “Parental support and pressure and children’s extracurricular activities: relationships with amount of involvement and affective experience of participation”

https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0193397303000467?token=1B8E6D01423A05493F2C6FDB5207C6EACB7655958CA90F53764F8D668A65A799D2EC8BE8563CC34A7C5DE8CA0AA17E54&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20230204193538

Background: This article discusses how parents impact the extracurricular participation of their children through either support or pressure.    

How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to possibly write about the negative consequences of children performing in plays/musicals. Parents pressuring their children to get involved in activities such as plays, musicals, bands, etc. can cause stress and unhealthy competition in young ones.    

5. “Imagination, Play, and the Role of Performing Arts in the Well-Being of Children”

Click to access Imagination-play-and-the-role-of-performing-arts-in-the-well-being-of-children.pdf

Background: This article dives deeper into the potential of the performing arts and how kids can benefit from expressing themselves through song, dance, etc.  

How I intend to use it: I intend to use it exactly the same way as the first source. I want to provide some quotes for my audience to prove that the performing arts are important in schools.

6. Impact of No Child Left Behind on Curriculum and Instruction in Rural Schools

https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1208&context=ruraleducator

Definition/Categorical argument topics: TIE {theatre in education”movement from the 60s, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, perhaps some psychological terms regarding children in theatre.

https://www.belgrade.co.uk/theatre-in-education-tie/

What is Theatre in Education and five reasons how it supports organisations to inspire positive change.

https://www.igi-global.com/pdf.aspx?tid=291829&ptid=269123&ctid=15&t=Conceptualizing%20Creativity%20as%20Progressive%20Pedagogy&isxn=9781799882879

https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/caelj18&div=17&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals 

https://www.proquest.com/openview/16f886bac0fda195ef411794c95cce3e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y

CAUSAL ARGUMENT ARTICLES:

1. Involvement in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement In Music and Theatre Arts

Click to access Involvement-in-the-Arts-and-Human-Development.pdf

“Children learn about the art form as well as about other more instrumental ends related to personal or social development. Among the latter, Jackson enumerates learning about, ‘group interaction, discipline, language usage, self esteem, and movement skills.’ Heathcote reminds us also that drama provides situations where we can or must put ourselves into the place of another; thus empathy for others is a possible or likely outcome of the dramatic experience” {1999, paragraph 41}. 

• This quote can be used to restate my claim about theater arts being a benefactor in improving mental health among kids.

“The involved students outscored the non involved students as of 8th grade; both groups gain skill as they proceed through high school; and the difference favoring students involved in theatre grows steadily to where nearly 20 percent more are reading at high proficiency by grade 12… This seems reasonable in that students involved in drama and theatre, according to our definition of intensive involvement, probably spend time reading and learning lines as actors, and possibly reading to carry out research on characters and their settings. In any case, theatre is a language-rich environment and actively engages students with issues of language” {1999, paragraph 47}. 

• I like the data being showed here. I can use this to my advantage when showing data in my piece.

Notes:

From introduction –

“This briefing presents results from our work during the past 2 years exploring
interactions between the arts and human development and achievement. This research
enlists the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88), a panel study which
has followed more than 25,000 students in American secondary schools for 10 years.”

• This article sounds very credible and a strong source to use for my causal argument as well as my final paper overall.

“The work addresses developments for children and adolescents over the period spent
between the 8th and 12th grades, i.e. late middle school through high school.”

• Perfect.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=weEBAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=importance+of+social+skills+in+kids&ots=LbIEfeL_iM&sig=Dh3n11sOmP6U9IDw7XCq3UVswzY#v=onepage&q=importance%20of%20social%20skills%20in%20kids&f=false

file:///Users/samanthaszumloz/Downloads/The_Impact_of_Participation_in_Performing_Arts_on_.pdf

Topics for Smaller Papers:

• Parents putting too much pressure on their children’s grades will lead to poor self-image. 
• Parental support and extracurricular activities go hand-in-hand for kids. Without one or the other, kids will struggle. 
• The negative effects of the performing arts

{THE SOURCES UP TOP ARE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER. THEY ARE JUST PRODUCTS OF MY BRAINSTORMING.}

Current State of the Research Paper: 

So far, I feel like my research paper still needs some work in terms of resources. I need to look deeper on Google Scholar and find better sources that support and challenge my argument. I also understand that I need to be more open to sources going against my argument/hypothesis, for not everyone feels the same way about the performing arts. My opinions have not changed immensely through this first draft. However, I anticipate that I will feel a little different and more confident about my paper as I gather more information. 

3/19/23 Current State of Research Paper:

After updating some of my sources, I realize that I need to be looking for more sources that contribute to my smaller papers. Not merely the big research paper at the end. As a class, we are breaking the research paper into chunks to make the workload/research process less overwhelming. The sooner I gather sources for my smaller papers, the better off I will be at the end of the semester. I need to focus more on the little things. So, I do not think I am having trouble finding resources, per say. I have plenty of sources already in my white paper. I just need to find some more that will actually benefit my smaller papers and pertain to what they are trying to convey. Not just the final paper. Because the final paper is made up of the smaller papers. I also need to keep responding to each article {taking notes, writing about my reactions to them, etc.}. I am starting to do that with my older sources so that I can keep some of their quotes in mind. But as I gather new sources, I must keep going with this process.

4/11/23 Current State of Research Paper

Now that I am getting to the end of the semester, I realize that I need to revise my small arguments because soon enough, I will be piecing them together to create my final paper. I also believe that my breakdowns of my sources are effective. However, I need to implement them when writing my small arguments. I additionally need to gather sources for my rebuttal argument paper {which I will be doing very soon since the paper is due 4/12 at midnight} and break down my causal argument sources. Overall, I believe I am doing fairly well with my paper. I just need to crunch down on revising and gathering sources for my final argument. This is the hardest point in the semester for me since it is the end of the year. I just need to buckle down so that I do not slip up.