The United States public schools' neglect of instruction in music and the other arts is "dehumanizing our own people, and particularly our children, not by design, but by default," asserts a report which was presented to Congress and the Bush Administration on March 6, 1991 by the National Commission on Music Education. The commission's 60-member panel is composed of prominent educators, entertainers, corporate leaders, and national legislators.

According to the report, "From Plato to the present, no great teacher ever dreamed that the arts could become what many school districts have made of them in the last generation: an expendable 'frill,' the first sacrificial lamb to fall under the budget axe when funds grow short." Entitled "Growing up Complete: The Imperative for Music Education", the report was presented as part of a two-day symposium on "America's Culture at Risk," at the JW Marriott Hotel.

"Despite well-intentioned affirmations from many educators and school officials that the arts are 'basic' education in music and the other arts by our inattention to music and the other arts in our schools, we are dehumanizing our own people, and particularly our children, not by design but by default."

The report stresses that the need to "destroy, once and for all, the myth that education in music and the other arts is mere 'curricular icing,'" and that it is not as important as courses in reading, mathematics, and the physical and social sciences. It also calls on parents, teachers, and legislators to participate in a national effort to insure that all children receive a comprehensive education in music and the other arts from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The report is based on testimony presented to the Commission during three public forums held last fall in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Nashville, as well as recent research on the value of music and arts education to children. Approximately fifty parents, teachers, corporate American workers, and civic leaders provided testimony at the forums including Dr. Stuart Gothold, superintendent, Los Angeles County Unified School District; Robert Marsh, music critic for the Chicago Sun times;Bill Ivey, president, Country Music Foundation; and recording artists Wynton Marsalis and Rosanne Cash.

The report lists the following statistics that indicate serious neglect of music and arts education in U.S. schools: Only 29 states include music and the other arts as requirements for high school graduation. Twenty-five of these allow the requirement to be met with fewer than two units of instruction, and 143 allow such courses as industrial arts, foreign language, or computer science to fulfill that requirement.

"The growing perception and treatment of music and the other arts as diversions from the 'really important' subjects of reading, mathematics, physical science, and social science runs contrary to the wisdom of very educated people," the Commission writes. It notes that although the educational reform movement in the U.S. is nearly a decade old: "In terms of improving student achievement, not much has changed. We believe a new possibility is worth exploring. If music and the other arts were brought from the educational periphery to the core learning, they could make a significant contribution to a more effective solution."

The report asserts to statistics compiled by the Music Educators Nation Conference that find "in 1987-89, students taking music courses scored an average of 20-40 points higher on both verbal and math portions of the SATs (Scholastic Aptitude Test) than students who took no art courses." It also cites a College Entrance Examination Board study, which found that "students who took more than four years of music and the other arts scored 34 points better on verbal SATs and 18 points better on math SATs in 1987-98 than those who took music for less than one year."

The Commission states that testimony during the three public forums was "almost universal in insisting that involvement in music powerfully encourages self-esteem, self-expression, creativity, and self-discipline."

The Commission recommends a national "full-scale, multi-level effort, from the grass roots up" to insure comprehensive educational requirements in music and the other arts for all U.S. public school children from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The report assets that this effort has to take place largely at the local level. "The great battleground for educational reform is now school board meetings . . . If localities are the front lines of the battle for better education in music and the other arts, then it is local people who music lead the national effort to get that done," according to the report." . . . Our hope is to build a powerful community constituency among parents, students, teachers, principals, board members, musicians, art advocates, and the music industry.”

An impressive list of dignitaries graced the podium at the JW Marriott, just a few blocks from the White House and the Washington Monument.

In terms of politicians, U. S. Senator Nancy L. Kassebaum (R-Kan.) received the report, pledging support to music education; and U.S. Representative Bob Clement (D-Tenn.) was on hand to receive more that 500,000 signatures gathered during the Music Makes the Difference petition drive. In fact, his daughters were among a group of children who wheeled stacks of petitions into the conference by wagon.

"We are in danger of missing a vital energy resource -- the minds of our children," said Peter J. Dowd, vice president, corporate communications division for Texaco, Inc. "Culture and education are essential to the quality of our own nation." Peter Suzuki, president of Yamaha Corp. of American, noted that in Japan, public school music programs were established through the School Education Act of 1947 and modeled after programs in the U.S.

"Today in Japan, it is mandated by the Ministry of Education that every child, grade 1-9, receives two hours a week of sequential music instruction from a music specialist." He added that every school in Japan has materials and instruments to teach music a room exclusively dedicated to music instruction. "This preoccupation with music as a central and essential part of a young person's school day is not exclusive to Japan. . . . It exists in Germany, where each student receives a minimum of two 45-minute class periods a week in music, kindergarten through 12th grade.”

As you can see, when the economy tightens and school budgets shrink, music and the other arts programs are often the first to be cut from the curriculum," said Karl Glenn, president of MENC. . . . Isn't it ironic that music will be readily cut from the school program when the budget is tight, while at the same time, the school bands, orchestra, and choirs will be called on for the Labor Day parade, dedications and graduation exercises, and community functions? Is music a ‘frill’ when it is always an integral part of society's most significant occasions?"

A number of speakers touched on those students most at risk: those in poorer neighborhoods and poorer school systems. Speakers such as Santiago Rodriguez, manager of multicultural programs at Apple Computers, and Reginald Wilson, senior scholar at the American Council on Education, displayed concern in regard to the lack of minority attendance at the seminar and suggested that the success of the campaign to save music education would hinge on getting African-Americans, Hispanics and other groups involved.

And, in summing up the importance of these efforts, NARAS President Michael Greene note, "The question is, 'How long does it take for an art form to deteriorate?' One generation? Two? How long does it take before the hard-fought gains of 100 years of music education in the schools are washed away?" Hopefully, these questions won't be answered.