Philosophical ideology and its applications

¶ … Philosophy of Music Education, Dave Sabine tackles the issue of why music should be taught in schools. When he was first asked the question he realized that he did not have an answer to it, and therefore he set out to create his own philosophy of why music was so valuable in schools and in a person's education as he or she was growing up. The most important part of the article is a statement that Sabine (1994) attributes to Bruce Pearson, which was that the teacher's "mission to educate has been replaced by a mandate to train." This is an unfortunate but true way of looking at most of education today, as there is a great deal of 'teaching for the test' as opposed to actually educating the future leaders of this country. Because these people are not getting a good education they are struggling when they get out into the world. They are not 'well-rounded,' and they know only what they were tested on - some of which they have already undoubtedly forgotten.

Sabine (1994) wants to see music brought back to schools and although he does state that his philosophy has changed and evolved since he wrote that particular article, the basic premise - that music should be available to all students regardless of their ability to play it - has remained the same. It is an essential part of understanding and being involved in humanity, and it evokes feelings and emotions in so many people - often feelings and emotions that they did not know that they had. For me, music is very special. It has deep and personal meaning in my life, and it is quite likely that there are many other people who share this kind of experience with it. It is this shared experience that helps to shape humanity, much more than whether they all know how to do algebra or correctly diagram a sentence. Those things are important as well, but music and the way it makes a person feel is not something that the students of today should be denied. Music and what it teaches us about the world and about ourselves should always be part of education.