Why the arts? Statistics show that students involved in the arts have better school attendance, and improved academic scores. There is a high relationship between music and reading. Experience in music enhances reading scores. A comparison of student reading scores revealed that music and music education students had the highest reading scores of any major on campus. This implies that years of studying music transfers to traditional language reading. Specifically, instruction in music reading seems to cause an increase in language reading. The finding holds true for beginning readers as well as middle and high school students. There are the academic reasons, but being in the school of the arts gives these youth peers with similar interests, and these interests have nothing to do with gangs or cruising the streets after school.