Music being phased out of public schools

[Kizzume]

Something that has been disgruntling over the past 14 years has been the deterioration of music programs in public schools. Then we wonder why music has become so noisy. Education is only part of that reason, but still, it's a pretty big part of it.

Someone who basically only knows how the chords sound for the song "Louie Louie" can at least UNDERSTAND virtually all music that is played on the radio today (minus the pbs stations that play jazz). Even the classical they play on the radio is usually all the type that is as easy to digest as a Beethoven or Mozart piece, even if they play music from later periods, they make sure they are selections that are easily palletable.

Why? Because fewer and fewer people actually understand complex music. For god's sake, people think Tool is complex. Tool. Yes, they sometimes use odd timings, but their tonality is ALWAYS the same.

The less people are educated about the complexities of music, the worse music is going to sound through the years.

How can we just toss out music from education? HOW? I've seen some people argue that music isn't essential, but then when I ask why we shouldn't cut out sports then, they start going off about how it would destroy a great American tradition. And music isn't a great American tradition?

If the same people that were for gutting music programs from schools were the same people who also think that sports should be phased out of schools, at least there'd be some consistency and I -might- be able to agree with that kind of thing, but not wholeheartedly.

What do you think?

[Coyote]

I'm biased. I was a band fag all through school. I'd much rather see attention paid to the fine arts in public school rather than the national obsession with high school football.

[Kizzume]

I'm definitely biased too--I did choir throughout my public schooling, and I quite frankly don't know what I would have done without it. It kept me going through the hardest of times, and the musical training and theory that I gained from the experience is priceless.

[jq]

Serously, what a shame. The greater shame is that a lot of schools are being phased out, period, not just their music programs! My favorite teacher from high school finally gave up and left when the class sizes got to being 35-40 people per classroom at my old school, and the long time elementary school by my grandparents house finally got shut down last year and is now and empty building this year! I would love to have politics which favor education again. My fingers are crossed that it will some day again happen.

As far as music being something that can get you through-- I sort of know how it goes. FOr me it was creative writing classes, but still, the point is it was an outlet that I could NOT have made it without. (And for the record, I DID also take guitar classes in high school, which is why I know what I do about guitar now, aside from the simple stuff my dad showed me.)