Daily Archives: March 20, 2013

After much thought, I think that I am going to write my persuasive paper on music education. I haven’t quite decided if I’m just going to focus on why it is important or if I should talk about funding for it. I feel as though I could combine the two of them, which is what I’m really considering as of now. I really like this topic because I feel as though I’ve personally seen the effects of this. My schools never lost their music programs, but I have definitely seen them go from hero to zero. Another potential subject that I could talk about is how funding isn’t divided evenly between sports and music. I could simply be making assumptions here, but I know that in Oklahoma we had one of the best  football stadiums in Northern Oklahoma, but our music building was gross and we had a lot of old instruments. After looking at some databases that we have I’ve found that there are a lot of good resources that talk about music education, so I won’t be hitting any rough spots looking for information.

For now, my structure is going to begin with talking about the benefits of music education. I might also make the argument that music is just as important as any other class that we have to take. I would definitely have to include the fact that some people aren’t “artsy” and are more focused on other extracurriculars, but I could include that both aid them in some way. I was thinking of including the benefits that music has, such as helping kids with math to an extent, or vice versa. After that, I’ll go on to talk about funding for music programs and the potential solutions that there are. I know of many organizations that focus on keeping the arts in school and will probably include them in my persuasive argument. To wrap everything up I will include the opposing opinion that arts are completely unnecessary. I might try to talk to someone who sees things that way because I know I am way too biased to try and think of why someone wouldn’t like music/arts. I also like my idea because I have had experience with music. From kindergarten until twelfth grade I was involved in music in some way, be it through required music courses, musicals, or even band. And I think that this will provide me with some compelling arguments and personal stories that can add to the persuasiveness of my essay. At first I was afraid of this essay, but after coming up with this topic I’m pretty sure it will be smooth sailing from here on out.