Friday, March 6, 2009

Music VS Math

The public school system in Tucson, AZ is about to cut music in junior high. The importance of music in life should be obvious. The importance of music in the development of children cannot be denied. How can we prioritize otherwise?

Every civilization that abandons the arts for global dominance has fallen under its own weight. People are being taught to add but not sing. How is this going to help our world? What are the long-term effects of cutting music from our schools? Why do I feel like the older I get the less decision-making power I actually have?

Like John Mayer sang "I just found out there's no such thing as the 'real world', just a lie you have to rise above."

I suppose I am fighting the gradual destruction of the arts by teaching guitar, piano and percussion privately.

It is unfortunate that I feel powerless against something as celestial as a school district. It is unfortunate that I have lost faith in my tax dollars working for the community. It is unfortunate that we parents must find alternative ways to enforce the truly beautiful things in life.

1 comment:

  1. oh my fellow narcissist... i understand the gravity of the abandonment of art in schools. in NM, they have to alternate music and art year by year. can't possibly have both, oh no. and the PTA has to fund it to boot! perhaps that's just the elem. level, i dunno. it seems like i remember having both when i was a kid... hmmm... i suppose you can think of it this way:
    in much the same way that science is for the school and spirit is for the home in terms of what is being taught where, perhaps adding is for the school and singing is for the home. it should work smashingly in your spectacular household of musical ubiquity. what could the school possibly teach them that you haven't already demonstrated better?
    of course that's selfish. there's all the poor kids otherwise doomed to a life of musical mediocrity in homes the likes of MINE.
    i getcha brother. abandoning the arts is like abandoning your sense of decency. abandoning your sense of humanity. abandoning your sense of anything beyond this plane. all just so we can compete with south korea.
    speaking of which, what do you think about obama's statement that we need longer school days and years so we can keep up with south korea (whose school attendance is fully one month per year longer than ours) et al.?

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