The importance of music education

From looking at the title of this post, one would be quick to assume that I am a music education major, but I can assure you that I am not. I am merely an elementary education major who has been fortunate enough to be a part of an experience with music that changed my life. Starting at a young age, I was surrounded by music. My dad is an avid rock and roll fan and I can pretty much sing any tune that comes on the radio if it was released between the years of 1950-1980. Then, in elementary school, I got introduced to the clarinet and I fell in love. Finally, something that I really excelled. I played sports and enjoyed them, but always felt like I was never that "good" at them. The clarinet allowed me to gain a sense of independence that I would have never developed in another setting. The responsibility of individual practice time and private lessons created a sense of drive in me that is still present. Thanks to the clarinet, I was able to go to private music camps on scholarship as well as travel to special honor bands. In high school, I had the opportunity to attend a clarinet seminar where I played with college level musicians in a setting totally devoted to the clarinet.
You may wonder what the point of this is so I will finally come to it. Without the clarinet, I would not be able to attend Luther College. I am here on a music scholarship and it is the only way my parents and I could afford this school. Music education is important in our schools because it could be the one thing that allows a certain student to attend college. It taught me social skills that I wouldn't have learned in another setting as well personal responsibility as I became responsible for practicing. Research supports the importance of music education in schools as it is shown that music improves test scores, concentration, and overall IQ. It gives students the opportunity to excel in an area that develops such creative aspects. When I hear people especially educators talk about cutting music education, I feel the need to be a voice for the many others like me. The ones who would not have the opportunities that they have without music education.

Assimilation

Isn't it weird how one simple change of the norm can really rattle someone? How that one change creates changes that were upredicted? When I first got the email about defying the cultural norm of being on time for class and waiting with my fellow students to walk in, I was like there is no way this will actually take place. A classmate and I talked about it the day before and both decided "together" that we would not participate. It wasn't until I got to my first class of the day and told a few Paideia students that I really began to see what assimilation is like. After telling my classmates that I did not want to participate, they almost immediately were able to peer pressure me into the activity. As a result, I texted my friend and she also decided to participate.

So, what did I actually learn from this experience? That assimilation is all around us and that even when a group of people tries to not assimilate to cultural standards, we assimilate to not assimilate. Doug's email also got me thinking about how much time I put into making my decision based on what was actually happening in the situation. I definitely thought about how Jim would react as well as the fact that I was going to be late for class, a first in my college career. Overall, I found this experience to be quite teachable and it has really made me think about what we come to expect from our schools as well. Are we teaching students to put aside their individuality to become the people and citizens we expect them to be?

Falling behind....

This portion of the class is hard for me to relate to because I do not believe that a price tag can be placed on the value of education. As I read the readings and listen in lecture, I am deeply saddened to hear comments about the economy and global competitiveness creep into a conversation related to education. To hear the future generation's education compared to the world, I fear that society has lost track of what is truly important in the world. What I want these people to realize is that without education, the money would not exist. As teachers, we give students the necessary skills to succeed in a work environment. Without the future generation learning, there would be no progress in the world. Although I believe that it can never happen, I long for the day when the United States government realizes that education is truly the most important thing in this nation and that we need to re prioritize the funding in this country.

Another area that severely depresses me is when the discussion of global competition turns to the standards and curriculum we have in place. I fully believe that we need to be aware of what other countries are doing in the world and that we need to prepare our students for that world, but I often think that such discussions should not be the only grounds for reform. We should not pursue reform solely for the purpose of competing better with the world. We should be pursuing education reform because we have students in our school systems that are not being challenged and those that are not getting the support they need. As a result, we are failing to provide students with the education they deserve and the one that was promised to them. This problem needs to be addressed first before we focus on comparing ourselves to other countries. We need to think about what is best for the students rather than what is best for the nation.