The “self-esteem movement” in this country is coming to an end.  We have learned that giving a trophy to all kids just for participating hasn’t worked, and — even worse — has undermined the natural grit that our nation is built upon.

We are also at a crossroads in education, where people are starting to finally wake up to the fact that passion and perseverance matters more than intelligence when it comes to being successful.  Hard work and stick-to-itiveness trumps “talent” and “good genes” every time, and usually gets most of us to where we want to be in our life and in our work.  Grit is what we want our children to cultivate during their time in school, not just good test scores.

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As sure as the sun rises and sets, every few years our government rolls out a new brand of education reform.  Some legislation is epic (NCLB, anyone?); other laws “chip away” at our education system in small chunks.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has trumped NCLB as the latest panacea for educating all of our children, and in turn has given music education a small seat at what was once reserved as the “STEM table”.  But is music and arts education ready to sit at this table?  Are we prepared to carry the torch of whole school reform as artists and musicians and show our test-driven, rubric loving, number-crunching politicians, administrators and colleagues the way towards educating the great minds of the future?

We are not ready.  Not yet.

While this is an incomplete list below, here are 3 reasons why the music world — and its educators — are not quite ready to lead whole school reform, but how we can begin to get there sooner rather than later:

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While there are some middle schools in our nation where the arts are a well-established cornerstone of curricula, there are far too many schools that provide little or no offerings.  Although there are many challenges and constraints that can affect delivery of the arts in elementary schools, middle schools have more severe issues that need to be remedied before rich offerings can be provided.

As opposed to elementary schools, middle schools are organized by teacher and by subject; no longer is one teacher teaching almost every subject in a class.  Therefore, staffing and facilities issues are constantly present in secondary schools, especially considering the ever-looming budget cuts that seem to occur each and every year.  The organization of middle school schedules, teacher-student ratios, and class time are enough to make a school community’s head spin as well — it is a complex system, there is no doubt.

Ultimately, there are a few common threads that make arts instruction difficult to deliver in secondary schools.  Although there is more to it than listed below, here are four major issues that hold middle schools back from a rich arts curriculum:

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For the first time ever, music is now cited in federal statute as a stand-alone subject in schools.

The timing could not be better.  After all, provision for the arts in school curricula should be a no-brainer requirement of a well-rounded education.  However, just because federal law is changing does not mean that schools are going to immediately adjust their schedules accordingly.

Our information age has become central (for better or worse) in shaping and influencing every waking moment of children’s daily lives – mostly toward a lifetime of consumption and a de-emphasis on creative thought.  But if schools enable children to not only have ideas about the world, but to be active participants in it, we will be able to effectively develop a range of qualities and skills in our youth that will empower them to operate in this new age as agents of change instead of apathetic onlookers.

Our society desperately needs to value more than just academic abilities.  Our children have unlimited potential and so much more to offer than just good test grades.  Music exemplifies these other capacities — intuition, practical skills and creativity, to name a few.  Make no mistake:  all of our children’s growth will be stunted without music in their lives as part of their school day. If schools do not appropriate the proper resources to music education, our new federal law will do our children little good.  And “guided resources” have less to do with actual finances and more to do with changing a long-established negative attitude towards the arts as peripheral to a well-rounded education.

Here are three reasons we need music in our country’s schools now more than ever before:

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As a public school music supervisor, I saw firsthand the shift in our education system toward an emphasis on “constant student engagement” in the classroom.  To this day, there still is this push to keep students busy from the moment class begins to the dismissal bell.  Teachers are worried about the possibility of moments where students don’t have something specific to “do” and aren’t producing something concrete — especially when a supervisor walks in.

Ultimately, there is a huge problem with this education model.  Schools have become too concerned with the business of keeping students busy and labeling it “engagement.”  In a culture of immediate gratification, smartphones, social media, and streaming everything, I believe we are perpetuating a fast pace of life that will prevent our children from thinking slowly and critically, and hinder their ability to think and reflect independently on any topic.  Students expect to be put to work at every moment, and don’t get used to what it really takes to learn something challenging.  Even homework is an exercise in multi-tasking alongside listening to music, watching TV, and streaming shows.

Often it takes silent effort, reflection and mindful thought to truly learn something — habits of mind that are difficult to qualify as “engagement” on an observation report or a report card.

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We are a few months into a new school year.  Has your child had a performance yet?

When students open their instrument case for the first time, they are excited to begin their musical journey.  They also want to become good at playing their instrument.  But it doesn’t take long for most students to realize that creating beautiful sounds on an instrument isn’t as easy as it looks — and it’s going to take some time and hard work to get where they want to be.

Some students enjoy daily practice (I didn’t), while others struggle to work consistently.  Issues between extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation comes into play with young students almost immediately when they begin studying an instrument in school.  Whatever a student’s relationship with practice might be, there’s one thing that will motivate them to practice intensely: an upcoming performance.

There is nothing more powerful than for a music teacher to stand on a podium on the first day of class and say, “We have a performance in four weeks, so let’s get to work!”

Here are 4 reasons that scheduling more performances will extend your child’s interest in music and help grow a powerful culture of learning in their music program:

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I believe we are sitting on the precipice of whole school reform in our country.

Standardized testing has hit a tipping point; schools are still far behind when it comes to teaching critical twenty-first century skills; and there is a growing divide between the haves and have-nots that threatens to alter our society in ways we are not equipped to handle.

But if our school system is dismantled tomorrow and built from scratch, would the answer to our educational problems be to provide more arts instruction?  Is teaching our children to think creatively as simple as adding the arts into school curricula?

The arts as a core part of every school day is a large piece of our educational solution if it is taught with careful planning and purpose.  Teaching creativity means allowing students to put their imaginations to work and apply it into other activities. We now understand that creativity is not only reserved for a chosen few —  there aren’t only “special” people who are creative — all children are.  And we have a responsibility to celebrate and cultivate that creativity throughout our children’s K-12 education, if not beyond.

Here are some reasons teaching in and through the arts promotes creativity (as long as it is taught well):

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This is a guest post from Leanne Sowul.  Leanne is a music teacher and writer from the Hudson Valley, NY.  You can find more of her writing at Words From The Sowul.

For the past thirteen years, I’ve worked in a public school district nationally recognized for music achievement, where over 85% of students sign up for an instrument starting in fourth grade. As an elementary band teacher, I get to be there for all of the beginnings: the first time new band students put their instruments together; the first time they produce a sound; their very first band rehearsal. Growth happens fast and motivation is high. Yet despite the excitement, constant learning, and small victories, I feel uneasy.

I worry because I know within the next year or two, some of those students will quit playing their instruments. And in a majority of cases, it will be for reasons having nothing to do with motivation or desire. That majority of kids will have one thing in common: they struggle in school. They are the kids with low scores on state tests; the kids who have IEPs (individualized education plans); the kids who are pulled out of class not only for music lessons, but for speech therapy and reading help.

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If we take a moment to look at school music programs around our nation, we may be inclined to believe that music instrument instruction is a luxury reserved for a select few.  We may also be holding on to an archaic belief that only a small percentage of students are capable of learning an instrument, or are “naturally talented” in the arts.  But what is the truth of the matter?  Under all the right circumstances, what percentage of children in school are “meant” to stick with a musical instrument?

The fact is, all students would be better served if they learned an instrument as part of school curricula, and I would argue that schools are denying the opportunity for most students to realize a passion and desire to play an instrument throughout their K-12 education.  There are many who argue that there is a large percentage of students who aren’t musically talented or don’t have the desire to play, but I contest that conditions in schools and the way music is valued by our system (and therefore our communities) creates that lack of “desire”.

So how do we level the playing field?  What are some of the “right” circumstances that will allow music to be an essential component of every school day?  Here are some ways that schools can create an appropriate environment for students to enjoy music as part of their core education:

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“Our Public Schools will provide an excellent education that prepares our students for college and to earn high paying jobs.” 

I came across this (very real) school mission statement recently.  While it is, in my opinion, egregiously one-dimensional, there are thousands more identical to it out there.

For argument’s sake, let’s pretend that the goal of every school is nothing more than to prepare students for college and “high paying jobs”.  Where do the arts fit in to the plan?  How can parents, teachers, and communities effectively advocate for the arts without sounding too abstract and “hoity-toity” in the face of such black-and-white school mission statements?

Here are a few points of emphasis when it comes to music and arts education as a part of our schools’ missions, and some ways to address the “educating from the neck up” approach of most K-12 schools in our nation:

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