Becca Warfel

S.P.I.T. Paper 1

Summarize

This article was written by Eric E. Branscome of Austin Peay State University. It was

written to address the trends in music education and how they evolved from differing

governmental influences. It responds to Obama's claims that America may experience a situation

similar to the one that arose after the Sputnik launch and deals with present and past concerns

about music education being shoved aside in favor of more practical subjects.

Personalize

In my time as a student in high school and college I have seen the effects of under valuing

and under emphasizing music. The band students only received a quarter credit per semester for

participating in band at my high school. The band rarely received extra funding, publicity, or

faculty attention. The core subject areas received most of the attention where the teachers could

teach for the test. Not only is this unfair to the students and teachers, but it is unfair to the

subject. Luckily, my high school hired a new teacher that taught during my senior year. He made

great progress in bringing the music department back to life, so to speak. I want to be able to be

like that when I'm a teacher. I want to show people that they should value music education and

the students who pursue it instead of overlooking it in favor of math and science.

Integrate

I would advocate for learning music for music's sake. The fact that it helps other subject

areas adds value to it, but I think it's also important to learn music for the simple fact that music

is important. I want my students to understand that and I hope that I can show the other faculty

members that as well. Music is an integral part of education and is a part of nearly every culture
in the world. It's part of what makes us human and I want them to see that it is just as important

as the core curriculum classes.

Think

I think that this was a well written and well researched paper. The logic is easily followed

and understood and the article makes sense. I found it interesting that I have actually lived

through many of the changes that this article mentioned. Since I was born in 1994, I was in

elementary school in 2000. I still remember the year when we first had to take standardized tests.

I agree with the author and I believe I would have come to the same conclusions that they found

from their research. This article will be valuable to me a teacher because I will need to predict

trends in music education instead of just reacting to them.

Works Cited

Branscome, E. The Impact of Education Reform on Music Education: Paradigm Shifts in Music

Eduction Curriculum, Advocacy, and Philosophy from Sputnik to Race to the Top