Shakespeare Makes You Smarter

As tomorrow is Shakespeare's birthday, we are going to have "Shakespeare Week" on Ghostlight Chicago.

To kick things off, I would like to include some information on what reading Shakespeare and participating in the arts can do for your life. These remarks are taken from various surveys and studies done across the country and cited by our old friend, Ben Cameron, in another one of his addresses.

Kids that study Shakespeare: (MIT study)
*Have a greater complexity of thinking.
*Have greater verbal acuity.
*Have a greater tolerance of ambiguity.

Kids that have been in a play are 42% less likely to tolerate racist behavior. (UCLA study)

Kids in the Arts: (Stanford study)
*Are four times as likely to participate in math and science fairs.
*Are eight times as likely to run for class office.
*Disciplinary infractions and absentee-ism plunge to zero (you just can't be late for an 8pm curtain)
*Generally score 120 points higher on their SAT's.