Shuler- making the arts curricular

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION
Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor
Kent State University School of Music
Fall, 2011

CRN:  200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202
Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu
Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)

BlackBoard and Text Readings

Submitted by:  Emily Young
Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer
Date: November 3, 2011

Shuler, Scott C.  (1988). Making arts education curricular.
 Words of Note,  Pages 1-14.

    The arts have come very far in gaining acceptance and support from many different people. Yet, they are still categorized as an extra curricular when it comes down to budgeting.  Since art teachers can not change the economy, they must push to teach people why they do what they do.  To earn curricular status, the arts must develop a set curriculum to follow.  If people were able to see and accept the arts as important and necessary, educators in the field could spend more time teaching and less time advocating.
    Today we do have set standards for music educators, this has changed from the time the article was written.  These standards are definitely a huge step for music education.  The standards are very inclusive of every different aspect of music and even connecting music to other curricular subjects.  The standards alone are proof that music is worthwhile to teach in the schools.
    I really liked Shuler’s statement about all the attention that art educators must devote to defending their subject.  No other teachers have to worry about their program being cut year after year.  Math teachers do not have to convince people of the importance of math, everyone just accepts its importance. I can’t help but wonder why this is not the same for music.  Everyone went through elementary school taking music classes, I don’t understand when they decided that it was useless.  They must be forgetting how excited they were to go to music class. How much fun they had playing instruments and singing songs and dancing instead of reading and writing and taking tests.  Young children cannot be expected to sit in a traditional classroom all day every day.  Taking the arts out of the schools would have very negative effects on our students in many different ways and we need people to understand that.