Should Music Be Allowed In Schools

For some students coming up in this generation, Katy Perry could make or break their success in school. Upon hearing this, some people might be rather confused. A clearer thing to say would be that Katy Perry’s music would make the difference, not her person. An increasing trend in schools is having music played within the classroom. Some teachers are hesitant when it comes to this - phones and music playing devices have a common association with cheating, thanks to functions such as texting or IM. Despite this, it’s interesting to think about the fact that music plays a rather important role in the lives of most people, yet is put away in schools, as well as some workplaces. Recent statistics and experiments show when music plays in the classroom,

For example, twenty-one year old Daniel enjoys having his headphones in when he reviews paperwork at home. Some nights, Daniel is up very late hours, and he believes the music helps him avoid tiredness. A study by Nancy Feignenbaum further proves this. Feignenbaum allowed her students to listen to music during independent work time for one school week, and saw that most of her pupils no longer had the urge to put their heads down and try to sleep. This heightened focus also allows productivity to thrive - in a test study, 79% of students and workers were able to do so thanks to music (Flanagan). In the classroom setting, students typically won’t try and distract one another, because they will all be paying attention to their own music. It has also been shown that when a child is focused, they also cease to worry about the time left in that class (Should Students Be Allowed to Listen to Music in Class, debate.org). This is the case for Aidan, a senior in high school. Aidan has had ADHD since he was young, and has trouble focusing in the classroom. However, when he has the opportunity to listen to music, his distractions seem to fade away. The music acts as a background noise for Aidan, and he can accomplish the task at

If one thinks back into their days in elementary school, they may recall using jingles and rhymes to help learn different concepts. The same idea applies with songs (Flanagan). This is because the beat and rhythms of most tunes are simple to memorize. For example, take seven year old Calvin. Calvin’s family doesn’t watch much television, but he can easily recite the phone number to several commercials advertised on TV due to a catchy jingle. This concept is a parallel to that of students turning their material into music, or even associating it with a song. Another exciting part of music being played in school is the fact that it can engage creativity. Chris Boyd Brewer claimed that “Music is a doorway to the inner realms.” A Virginia high school drama teacher strongly resonates with this thought. Mr. Walker, the educator, plays instrumental music when his creative writing class is given time to write. He believes that it may inspire and ignite inspiration in his students, and help lead them to express themselves along with their emotions. Aside from all this, music during class is simply fun. When students come into class knowing they will get this privilege, they generally have a positive attitude (Brewer). It brings up the class morale, and makes the period a memorable experience for