How School and Music Has Made Me a Better Person

What if I told you that there was a way to improve upcoming generations academic achievement and overall quality of life. Would you believe me or think I was crazy? Allow me to explain to how having Music Education is a very important part of a students academic growth. At the same time their are becoming more and more funding cuts for music education in schools. Funding should not be cut from music education in public schools because it is essential to a students full academic growth and development.

Music. When I started in the band in 8th grade at Saints Francis and Clare, I didn’t really want to be there. It was just another class, in another day, of my last year of school. This began to change after I realized all of the amazing people I met in the band. Band led me to be happier and become friends with people who I never even knew I would meet. It has even lead me to a path that I would like to go into in the future. I love music and band so much that it has made me want to teach it or join a band as I go into college and just for the rest of my life. Through music I have even had the opportunity to meet some very amazing people, and I have been able to work next to some of those people.

School will always have an impact on a person. Weather that influence is positive or negative, school has the ability to influence the rest of ones life. It is not only a place where one will learn the Pythagorean Theorem, or what the power house of a cell is, or even how to spell onomatopoeia. It is a place where we learn about the types of people out there in the world are, where we learn that everyone has their own story to tell, and where we learn the power of choice.

Time and time again I've found myself declaring education as the central pillar of my growth and development, that of which has been consistent throughout my life and educational career. From the age of 8 I've attributed school and learning as a way to escape the outside world, both willingly, and as an involuntary coping mechanism; school was a refuge, a safe place where I could build healthy relationships and escape my worries. I felt valued by my teachers, and I was given opportunities to contribute to a community, and for the first time felt autonomous- and that I could control my future.

When I first began playing the clarinet, eight years ago, I would have never expected it to impact my life in such a significant way, but it did and continues to each year. From the second that I picked up a clarinet and played a single note, I knew it was an experience like no other; music is a unique language, it speaks words that many can hear, and brings people of all races and religions together. Playing an instrument is a way of self-expression, both individually and as a group; bringing musicians together to create a work of art. I have experienced this throughout all eight years as a musician with students from my school, in both concert band and marching band, students from surrounding schools, during band fest, junior district band, and district band, as well as members of my church, at worship services. Music can bring the most unexpected

My interests and passions supplement my education in high school in a variety of ways. Show choir, musicals, plays, chorus, band, jazz band, and so much more allowed me to use my creativity everyday in multiple ways. All of these arts opportunities added to the excitement of coming to school, which naturally helped me succeed in my academic pursuits. Not only do I enjoy high school, but many weekend days have been spent waiting to go back to school so that I can sing again, or play my trumpet again, or just learn something really interesting.

Music education belongs in schools. If you need further persuasion (which you shouldn’t, it just makes sense), there are many reasons. Music motivates people. Once you get interested in music, you’re learning a new language and other useful skills. You get disciplined with practicing. Playing in a group teaches you teamwork. You learn history through the music you’re interested in learning about. It can get you interested in different academic classes and help improve your grades and actually be motivated to learn. Music education will help students not only academically, but in their future

Peter Greene in his article, “Stop Defending Music Education”, suggests that public schools need music for many reasons. In addition to emphasizing that public schools need music education not because it increases test scores, but for many other reasons rather than the obvious reason. Greene is surely right about people defending music education for the wrong reasons, because as he may not be aware, recent studies have

Schools are a place where people come to learn things that will help them in the future. They have changed what school really

I support Gene Carter’s purpose of education, who took from Dewey that “…school is to transfer knowledge and prepare young people to participate in America’s democratic society.” This country works best when everyone is contributing to society. Education is needed to provide the necessary skills to effectively help others in the work force, in the home, and in daily interactions. Schooling also helps people to build relationships with others that will be important throughout life. School is our first experience with other people our age and it forces us to connect with them.

I still maintain to this day that school is a place to learn languages, learn maths, learn history, and, most importantly, learn how to learn. It is not a place to learn conformity or regulations that have no bearing on society, or becoming a drone who automatically accepts everything an authority figure tells them.

“Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music” (Bloom 68). While every person in the world knows this to be true, no one stops to consider whether the music society listens to is actually good for the mind. What people don’t realize is that music affects people’s morals, culture, education, laws, and the way society thinks. Music has proved to be helpful, but no one focuses on that aspect of it anymore. The people that music affects the most only care if they can dance to it.

School is very important to me. I believe everyone has a right to gain an education. Of course the best place to do so is in school. At the present time it seems America’s youth has been placed into a category where they are no longer seen as a bright future that our nation as was considered in the past.Since the past few years American students scores and been falling and there is no clear reason why. Benjamin Barber’s “America Skips School” and E.D. Hirsch’s “Why America’s Universities Are Better than Its Schools” are both articles that address the issue of American students falling behind in scholastic accomplishment. Both authors agree that American schools need reform.

Elliott notes the lack of importance given to these life goals that music education provides by some school administrators and how this can impede on students’ willingness to achieve other academic and vocational goals. The lack of music education can therefore result in below-average levels of academic and vocational accomplishment and high levels of custodial trouble, meaning unruly or absent students. He therefore advocates music education to be part of the core curriculum from kindergarten till the end of high school for “educational, economic, custodial and practical” reasons. Koopman also provides three arguments supporting music education at school. The first one is that music instruction is essential to personal development, the second

School, to me and among many peers of my age, is not a distant term. I have spent one-third of my life time sitting in classrooms, every week since I was seven years old. After spending this much time in school, many things and experiences that happened there have left their mark in my memory. Some are small incidences while some have had a great impact on me. However, regardless the degree of significance, things that happened all contributed to shape the person that I am now.