Kaitlyn Pleasants

ENC 3331
Professor Wright

Proposal: The Civic Issue of Lack of Music Education

Introduction
Ever since I was born, music has been a huge part of my life. From hearing
stories about my fathers DJ-ing days in college, to listening to old school R&B and
smooth jazz on the car rides to and from school, to exploring on my own the
different types of music from past and present, I have always been interested in how
music makes such an impact on life and the way Ive been able to go through life.
I came from a small town called North Richland Hills in a large metroplex in
Dallas, Texas. Within my public school district, each school had well-rounded
programs in physical education, arts and core curriculum classes starting from PreK all the way to high school. In between core classes, students were given the equal
opportunity to learn music studies as part of the arts program. My music teacher
taught us voice, music scales, instrumental playing and educated us on the different
genres of music that our favorite (boy band) artists were influenced by. These daily
classes gave us an outlet to be creative and engaged with other fields of study.
To students that werent necessarily interested in the STEM careers or a
normal 9-5 job, arts and music education is their outlet to be creative. For students
that were interested in academics, arts and music education helped students with

their rigorous academic programs with content retention, confidence and creativity
skills. I saw this first hand growing up, while I was told year after year that I had to
prepare for college. It did not hit me until the time came to apply for college that I
was able to put my musical involvement on a resume and let it shine with my above
average grades. In addition, student who didnt have 4.0s were being accepted into
schools that straight A students shouldve been accepted into. Why? Because they
had an outside foundation that made them a well-rounded student.

The Issue
The dwindling and eventual lack of music education within our current
public educational system is a civic issue that affects all students. Choosing to
concentrate on core subjects such as language arts, science, mathematics and social
studies only limits a students creative outlet with other fields of study. While the
importance of standardized testing is still an ongoing debate today, it is also an
important issue that students every day are taught to focus on classes that will
produce positive test scores for their school district instead of focusing on a
students full potential on a variety of outlets. Just as physical education is important
for a students overall health and well-being, so is the educational outlet in the
creative arts.
By creating a plan of action to change this current issue within our public
school system, we can help students reach their full potential creatively as well as
academically. I chose music specifically because of the recent studies that show
music education is tied to better grades, better concentration and better discipline:

skills in which students must learn in order to prepare themselves for a rigorous
college education.

Research
With this project, I plan to research and analyze public schools that are or are
not enforcing music education within their curriculums. This process breaks down
into smaller parts. By analyzing school systems that are using music education with
those who are not, I can also analyze student grades and find a correlation between
the two, if such correlation exists. I plan to prove that with music education,
students obtain better grades and are able to retain more information and practice
better discipline in their course studies. Additionally, I will research reports from
different published journals that supports this theory and ones that do not to
compare.
Researching school board decisions and budgets can also factor into the
reasoning as to why music education is being cut in the first place because its source
lies there. I want to know why exactly there leaves no money allocated for subjects
other than core classes. Lastly, I will observe Floridas own public school budget for
music education to start the conversation in the state that I currently reside in. As I
do wish that music education should be saved in all public schools, I believe starting
in the state of Florida will narrow the focus of the importance of this civic issue that
can later be expanded to other states.
Solution

My goal for this project is to strongly bring awareness that music education is
needed in public schools and that it is beneficial in helping students become wellrounded individuals that are given the chance to perform at their full creative and
neurological potential. I hope that when school board members, teachers and
parents meet up for their annual meetings that they will think twice about how
music education is beneficial for students.
In our day and age, more colleges look for well-rounded students in addition
to good grades. If our schools dont have outlets to produce well-rounded, focused
students, how are students going to be competitive for college? How are students
going to use their full potential? By starting now to change the way arts education is
treated within our school system, we are saving more students the agony of being
turned away from good colleges simply because their full potential wasnt met
because the school system chose to not afford and enrich that potential.
Rhetorical Techniques
In presenting this project, there are many different ways to convey this
message to my targeted audience: parents, teachers and school board members.
Because music itself is a metaphor for a myriad of different subjects, I want to use
different metaphors to connect the way students use different symbols and
metaphors to learn music into ways they can also learn and retain information when
learning coursework information. In addition to metaphors, I will use different
media devices such as videos of students learning music instruments and how their
brain functions when they are learning sheet music and coursework and how their
brain works during each sitting. By using a visual device, it shows the audience how

the students are impacted by having music education mixed with their regular
school day. I plan to create a campaign with the already existing VH1 Saves the
Music, a non-profit organization that gives instruments to schools who do not have
music education programs. I believe my plan of action can help Save the Musics
campaign by simply bringing more awareness with all of the stakes that come with
having a music education program, including teachers and having a set budget that
will be allocated to these programs.