The Role of Music Education

What our educational preferences say about us

Many people don’t understand the role of the arts in education. The hard science get all of the preference, and the funding. Why is this? Well it’s the same reason why a majority of college students in America’s univeristys go for some sort of finance or business degree: those types of jobs and majors are what you’re “supposed” to do. The prestige that our youth is seeking is associated with these types of jobs and pursuits while the artists are the ones who are “out there” and “starving”.

But music DOES have a place in education! Even if music isn’t the pursuit that students seek in the long term it does have extremely practical real-world applications. Learning how to think outside of the box, and using the right side of your brain is one of the most prominent things that music education does. Even if you work toward a job in the sciences, being able to be creative and use your entire creative being in one of these pursuits will make you that much better than the competition.

There are those who don’t believe that music has a place in the education of our youth. To these people I simply say, perhaps your lack of music education is preventing you from seeing the extreme benefits that this type of education carries.

-Christine Holley