Stop the Madness

Stop the madness!  It’s what I want to say every time I speak with an administrator, board of ed member or any person who is part of the decision-making machine of our school system.  I just cannot fathom how anyone could not intuitively understand the inherent value of the arts as part of a balanced education.

For the past twelve years, I’ve been married to a high school band director.  It has been eye-opening to see the work that goes into being an effective music teacher.  There’s a lot more to it than being the guy who stands in front of the band and waves his arms until the music stops.

It has also been eye-opening to see just how many administrators really don’t understand music education.  They don’t realize the impact that some of their seemingly benign decisions have on the arts.  Many of them grew up in an era when arts education was already losing ground.  They don’t know another way.

We hear so much that the purpose of public education is to prepare students for college and careers.  This statement gives me pause on two counts.  First, what about careers in the arts?  There’s an enormous industry dedicated to entertaining people, yet our school system doesn’t recognize any value in preparing students for arts careers.  We don’t go through a single day without hearing music in some form, but the task of creating music isn’t important enough to make it an essential part of our schools.  Ironic, isn’t it?

Second, are we really just preparing students for college and careers?  I was under the impression that we are supposed to be preparing them for LIFE.  Human beings are worth so much more than just what we do.  In other words, don’t we each have value apart from our jobs?   We tell kids to find their passion, but we make it awfully difficult for them to do so by narrowing the curriculum and implying that certain subjects have more value than others.  If your passion doesn’t fit the mold, then it’s wrong.

What’s wrong is taking these amazing, creative, gifted young people and funneling them into a system that devalues their uniqueness.   

What’s wrong is standing on the sidelines watching it happen and leaving the work of advocacy to others.