Sara Keenan Keenan 1
November 14, 2013
Period 2
Fund Music, Fund success Some qualities, such as musical ability, have the potential to enhance the lives of students short term and long term. The full potential of high school students is being inhibited by the lack of substantial music programs. Music enhances academic performance, extracurricular opportunity, and college and job qualification. Therefore, funding, rather than being cut, should be increased in high schools because of its many benefits to the lives of students. Due to the funding of other programs, music program funding is being cut short and abandoned altogether in some instances. Since this is happening, there are a variety of effects on students. Music is said to enhance academic qualities. Nina Kraus, lead author of the Nature perspective, the Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology and director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, elaborates on this. "'An active engagement with musical sounds not only enhances neuroplasticity,' she said,' but also enables the nervous system to provide the stable scaffolding of meaningful patterns so important to learning'" (Tremmel 1). This means that music plays a key role in the extent to which students learn. Another fact is that "musicians trained to hear sounds embedded in a rich network of melodies and harmonies are primed to understand speech in a noisy background. They exhibit both enhanced cognitive and sensory abilities that give them a distinct advantage for processing speech in challenging listening environments compared with non-musicians" (Tremmel 1). This advantage could carry even passed the classroom and into the real
Keenan 2 world. In order to succeed in what we do, concentration is the foundation of learning and action. Such a foundation provides a plethora of benefits. According to a report in 2001 by The College Entrance Examination Board, “students in music performance [courses] scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation [courses] scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than students with no arts participation” (Houston 1). This is living proof that virtually, music can have a direct affect on academic performance. This is why Music programs should have increased funding. In fact, a school Principle credited the successes in his school to the music program. “In 1999, at PS96 in East Harlem, only 13% of the students performed at grade level in reading or math. Eighteen months after the music program was restored, 71% of the students were performing at grade level” (Houston 1). Though this is just one school, it illustrates the importance of music in students’ academic lives. Similarly, music provides a hand in the extracurricular opportunities of students. There are numerous activities after school and during the summer involving music. They are private lessons, solo and ensemble, youth orchestras and symphonies, summer camps, clinics, church choirs and orchestras, festivals and competitions, etc. These all contribute to the way a student spends his or her time. In fact, being involved in music lessens the chance of a student participating in harmful activities such as drug and alcohol use (Fuller 1).Though there are many other contributing factors toward adolescent substance abuse, such as, peers, home environment, and culture, music provides a child with something to do, rather than being bored. Music is a healthy way for kids to occupy their time because they’re benefitting themselves and those around
Keenan 3 them. Furthermore, students who are involved in music are benefitted in areas beyond music also. A “Stanford University study conducted between 1987 and 1998, found that young people who participated in an arts program, at least three hours on three days of each week throughout at least a year, were 4 times as likely to be