Music and Art Education Budgets Cuts

      Since 2001, schools across the nation began cutting certain programs from their curriculum; among those were the music and arts programs. I had to ask myself why would they do this. One of the reasons is that they could not test for music and arts on the standardized test. I remember as a child in school I would question the fact about why I needed certain classes in order to advance to the next grade. I always viewed music and arts as fun and entertaining classes. I believe it gives the students an opportunity to explore their creative sides.

Why is the value of music and arts education being questioned? Whenever budget cuts come up these programs are the first to be cut by our school administrators. It truly makes you wonder how you can place a value on your child’s education.

Doing further research on this topic I came across an article called How important is music education in schools? by Jennifer Cerbasi. She addressed several pertinent facts that music is just not a hobby, but played a key role in the development of our children. In 2007,, the Journal for Research in Music Education stated, “quality music education instruction improved academic performance, specifically, better scores on standardized tests.” She also quoted another article from 2005, The Midland Chemist, which stated “almost all of the past winners of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science, and Technology for high school students played one or more instruments.”

In New Jersey, River Edge's Teacher of the Year, music teacher Kelly Dent said. “In this way, music programs, especially those focused on making music, play an essential role in the development of social skills and emotional awareness in students."

So if, our educators are constantly stating how valuable these programs, why do the administrators continue to cut these from the school curriculum? According to research we can see that facts have shown that these programs are beneficial. It would seem that the Department of Education should take a closer look at the budget for more than one school year at a time. We need to figure out a way to keep these programs in our schools. I truly believe that we express ourselves by being creative.

Plato once said, "Education in music is most sovereign because more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way to the inmost should and take strongest hold upon it, bringing with them and imparting grade if one is rightly trained.

A great website that promotes activities and resource for the establishment of music education as a profession is the National Association for Music Education.  They are here to promote and provide guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum.

The beauty of music is the creation of where it comes from, so be unique and different!

Sing, write, compose and produce from your heart!