Would you like to know what the presidential candidates say about music education? I did a little survey. You will be surprised by the results!
First, let me mention that I found it jarring to hear from my wife that in a recent focus group discussing education, nearly everyone seemed obsessed about making sure our state’s educational system helped kids get jobs. Almost as if they viewed colleges as vocational schools.
This is obsolete. Education shouldn’t help kids get jobs; it should help kids create jobs.
The creative thinking and discipline and communication skills learned through music education can help people invent something, start a new business, work for themselves–or just help them understand themselves and the fast-changing world we live in enough to identify the right companies and positions for themselves, and even shape existing jobs so they can really shine and make a difference.
OK, so which presidential candidates have made music and the arts part of their campaign?
McCain, Obama, Clinton, Romney, Thompson, and Giuliani do not even mention the arts or music in their issues statements. The most outspoken advocate of the arts is, in fact, Huckabee. Here’s what the candidates say:
Richardson (no longer running): “Put the arts and music back into education. To retain this critical education element, I will invest up to $500 million in arts and music education programs.”
Edwards: “No Child Left Behind has lost its way by imposing cheap standardized tests, narrowing the curriculum at the expense of science, history, and the arts and mandating unproven cookie-cutter reforms on schools.”
Kucinich: “The current Administration wants to box our young people in with standardized tests and a limited focus on math and science. These days, American students are tested to an extent that is unprecedented in American history and unparalleled anywhere in the world. Education must emphasize creative and critical thinking, not just test taking.”
Huckabee: “Music and the arts are not extraneous, extra-curricular, or expendable – I believe they are essential… Art and music are the secret, effective weapons that will help us to be competitive and creative. It is crucial that children flex both the left and right sides of the brain. We all know the cliché of thinking outside the box: I want our children to be so creative that they think outside the cardboard factory. Art and music are as important as math and science because the dreamers and visionaries among us take the rough straw of an idea and spin it into the gold of new businesses and jobs. It is as important to identify and encourage children with artistic talent as it is those with athletic ability. Our future economy depends on a creative generation.”
Huckabee plays bass. By the way, Alan Greenspan played jazz with legendary Stan Getz before turning to economics. Bill Clinton played sax. What other high achievers have played music? Add a comment below, it would be nice to know!
Albert Einstein, who played violin, once said: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
About the Author
Ed Pearlman has focused on performing, teaching, and judging fiddle music for over 30 years, offering performances and workshops throughout the USA and in Canada and Scotland. His original training was with members of the Chicago and Boston Symphonies, and he played with orchestras and chamber groups at Yale and in Boston. He currently teaches privately at two music schools affiliated with music stores in Maine. Ed directed the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club in monthly workshops for 18 years, directed major concerts and festivals, and recorded 2 solo CDs and several with a fiddle orchestra and top soloists. In addition to Scottish and Cape Breton fiddle styles, Ed plays other Celtic, American, and Canadian fiddle music, classical and some jazz, klez and Hungarian. Ed created and for 11 years ran a CD distribution company to bring music to the USA from Scotland, Atlantic Canada, Ireland, Brittany and Wales. He's the music columnist for Scottish Life magazine.
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