Argumentative Essay: The Issue Of Funding Music Education

Have you ever played with toy instruments like a tambourine or xylophone? Many of us would have played with these instruments in elementary school during a music class just to make noise, whether it sounded good or bad. Without realizing this can create an initial interaction with music that sparks an interest in being a musician when growing up. However, with the ever-present budget cuts on music education many elementary school students aren’t getting this exposure to music and being negatively impacted by the cuts. Music education is important for all students to have and needs to be funded to help with students’ academic success and personal development to be successful in their futures. The issue of funding music education became a growing concern after the recession in 2008 when money became hard to allocate.

One concern parents have for music education is the added pressure and competition it puts onto their child. This can be stressful to younger students, but as you grow up the pressure and competition can prepare students for the stress they will face later in their life. Another concern is music’s distraction away from general education in topics like math and science. Bryan claims that in school districts, music is viewed as an unnecessary extravagance since it can distract students from the more important subjects (Bryan 4). What is an important subject? Society would say an important subject is math and science since it should prepare us for a job, but music prepares us for more than just a job. It should be as equally important as science and math. My high school saw the importance of all these topics, since it supported a STEM and VPA academy. However, the district thought it was more important to support the STEM academy even though more students from the school were involved with