Despite what the majority of people think, mandatory music classes in school doesn’t help the students in any meaningful way. In fact, it can be outright harmful and unnecessary to force music on all students, including those who do not even want to take the music classes in the first place.
Just imagine this scenario for a second – A student is really great at mathematics but has no interest in music whatsoever. Forcing that student to take mandatory music lessons in school will distract them from the maths and may even make them hate school. This is unfortunate if they have important exams looming, such as with Functional Skills Maths Level 2. Let’s be realistic for a moment here… Art is something that should be elective and therefore must not be forced!
So, to answer the question, No! Music should not be mandatory at school!
Does Music Make you Smarter?
There is a popular belief that music makes you smarter, but does it hold any truth? Based on a study from Harvard University, music had no cognitive benefit, and they even went as far as to claim that the benefit was non-existent. A professor from Boston College also held a similar belief and said that the claim ‘music makes you good at maths’ is totally misguided.
If we even step aside from the expert’s opinion, most people will have no need to learn how to use musical instruments! In short, the need to learn music doesn’t serve any purpose in real life at all!
Why Music Lessons shouldn’t be Mandatory
Let’s look at different reasons why music should not be mandatory in schools:
Poor Academics Performance
Forcing mandatory music lessons is nothing short of distracting the students from academics and can even hinder their ability to learn different subjects. In schools where music lessons are mandatory, students have to spend a lot of time learning, practising and performing – All of this affects their ability to focus on their studies and homework. This also applies to college courses.
In fact, some students who have no interest in music can even start to hate school, which will also lead to poor academic performance.
Extra Costs
It costs money to introduce music lessons in the school. When we talk about money, it includes hiring music teachers and even buying musical instruments. Let’s not forget about the space which is required to host the students and teachers for the music classes.
So much extra costs for something which serves no beneficial purpose doesn’t seem to be a good idea. In fact, if that extra cost had been directed towards the welfare of teachers or to improve classrooms, it could improve the learning experience of the students!
Rivalry among Students
Music programs can also give rise to rivalry and unneeded competition among the students! In order to compete for chairs and certain positions, the students have to outdo their peers in order to secure the position!
As a result, it can lead to competition and a lot of bad feelings among the children. We all know that feelings like this can also translate into the classroom and ultimately affect their future development as well!
Less Focus on Core Classes
We are living in the digital age, which means a lot of focus should be on the learning of science and maths (for example: Functional Skills Maths Level 2)! We all know that these things are very important in real life and can even help in the future as well! But when students are forced to take music lessons, it shifts their focus away from these important subjects and can ultimately result in poor grades!
Final Thoughts!
As we can see from the above, music is something that should be enjoyed and signed up to for enjoyment, not because learners feel it will improve their academic skills.
