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August 1, 2008 The following article is written by Joan Brandvold Schmidt, a musician, an advocate for the arts, an education leader, and a former President of the National School Boards Association. Music Advocacy: Singing Through the Dark Times There was a time when caged canaries accompanied coal miners into dark and dangerous mine pits where the potential buildup of lethal gases was part of everyday reality. The canaries served an important purpose: Because of their acute sensitivity to carbon monoxide and methane, they provided early warning of impending disaster. In the coalmines, the canary’s job was to sing. And when the singing stopped, the miners had to evacuate quickly, for their atmosphere had become poisonous. This is a dark and dangerous time for music education programs. The parallel forces of political pressure and economic reality have reached a critical juncture, and the result is a toxic environment that jeopardizes the very existence of an education system that serves the needs of the whole child. On the political front, ever since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, our nation’s public schools have been under intense pressure to raise test scores in reading and mathematics—and now science—or face serious consequences. School districts have responded by increasing time for instruction in those subjects. But this effort has come at a steep cost to students. According to a 2007 report from the Center on Education Policy , the amount of time spent on other subjects fell by nearly one-third within five years after NCLB became law. Social studies, health and physical education, music and the arts, even recess—all are valuable. But time is a limited resource, and the expansion of instruction in any subject area takes a toll on other programs. Subjects that are not tested have become especially vulnerable. Despite assurances that music is indeed a core academic subject under NCLB, music programs are often the first to feel the sting of cutbacks. Instructional time is reduced by a few minutes per week, or introductory band and orchestra programs are delayed for a year. Children are pulled out of music classes for tutoring in math and reading. And in the worst case scenario, music programs are eliminated. Meanwhile, on the economic front, a majority of the states anticipate budget shortfalls in the coming fiscal year. Unlike the federal government, states cannot operate at a deficit; therefore, they are compelled to cut spending, raise taxes or draw on reserves. Because public schools rely on state funding for about half of their budgets, a funding crisis at the state level has a devastating impact on local schools. School districts, navigating the treacherous shoals between the political pressure of high-stakes testing and the economic pressure of inadequate funding, face a twenty-first century version of Scylla and Charybdis. When test scores become the ultimate measure of education success, when funding shortages force non-tested subjects to compete for survival, it becomes all too easy to lose sight of the real bottom line—the well being of children. We dare not ignore the warning signs. The ominous sound of silence emanating from a music room heralds a poverty of the soul and the slow, insidious smothering of the creative spirit. Three Keys to Singing Through the Dark Times We are called to ensure an atmosphere that is hospitable to a full, rich curriculum—even in the darkest of times. The cacophony of political rhetoric during the months leading up to an election provides a splendid opportunity for music advocates to serve as catalysts for positive change.
This is indeed a dark and dangerous time for music education programs. Strong advocacy has never been more important. Our nation’s schools ought to be places of life and energy, places where poverty and hunger do not exist, places where beauty and truth are held sacred. And they should be places where artwork adorns the halls and music fills the air. While politicians argue about education policy and while school funding is drying up, our children’s future is at stake. And in the complex world of education policy, music programs may seem as inconsequential as a little yellow bird. But if we can’t hear the children singing, we had better take heed—for within that silence resides a message that the atmosphere has been poisoned, and every education program is at risk. |
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