ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : Music’s End Would Herald Education’s Dark Age

If Gov. Pete Wilson and California’s legislators succeed in suspending Proposition 98, they are undermining the future of the most populous state in the nation by kicking the legs out from under California’s already fragile educational system.

Their blind disregard for education in general--and especially for education in music and the other arts--will mark the beginning of an era that will come to be regarded in the history of California education as the Dark Ages.

Even before the probable suspension of Proposition 98, California bears witness to disheartening statistics when it comes to music education.

The average number of music teachers per student in the nation is one for every 600 students. California ranks last in the nation with an average of one for every 1,500 students.

* Drastic cuts in music programs are being planned throughout California--in Santa Ana, Placentia, San Juan Capistrano, San Diego, San Francisco, and now the Saddleback Valley.

* At the rate we’re going, before the ‘90s are over, music will be all but silenced in our schools and the study of music and the other arts will be for the privileged few.

An historic two-day symposium was held last month in Washington, sponsored by the National Commission on Music Education. It was appropriately called “America’s Culture at Risk.” The commission presented a report to Congress and the Bush Administration titled “Growing Up Complete: The Imperative for Music Education.” The report asserts: “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 the need to “destroy once and for all the myth that education in music and the other arts is mere curricular icing.” And it asserts that “if music and the other arts were brought from the educational periphery to the core of learning, they could make a significant contribution.” In support of those points, the report notes that “students taking music courses scored an average of 20 to 40 points higher on both verbal and math portions of the SATs than students who took no arts courses.”

And no less than 75 national organizations, including the National Assn. of Elementary School Principals, the National Assn. of School Boards, the Council for Basic Education and The National PTA have endorsed the report.

Copies were recently provided to Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s Board of Trustees and its superintendent. They were asked to read the report and meaningfully consider its content.

Music education, especially at an early age, is integral to educating the whole child. Music education is not a “frill” any more than reading or math are frills.

Avoiding budget cuts in the music program should not be based upon what happens to Proposition 98. Music cuts should be regarded as unacceptable.

Determination of curriculum and funding priorities rests in the hands of parents and local citizens in the nation’s 16,000 school districts.

Only an enlightened citizenry, fully informed of the dangers of raising a generation of culturally illiterate Americans, can curb this most pervasive assault on the intellectual development of America’s schoolchildren.

If music and arts education is to survive in California, it is vitally important for everyone who shares this concern to voice strong support for education and especially for upholding Proposition 98.