This is a rare blog entry not relating to diet and fitness. I had a light bulb go off on my ongoing discussion with the Vancouver School Board regarding the lack of music in the schools.
Here’s what I wrote on July 1.
Hi Trustees and Superintendent,
Happy Canada Day! Due to the holiday I finally managed to get to some of my to do list!
I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the consulting money earmarked for studying what to do about Elementary Band and Strings.
Then I discovered the following study from UBC. In essence, without a comprehensive music program, you are making it harder for students to achieve competence in the core subjects.
https://news.ubc.ca/2019/06/24/music-students-do-better-in-school-than-non-musical-peers/
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/edu-edu0000376.pdf
Therefore it occurred to me that I had — like all of us — drunk from the Poisoned Kool-Aid that says Music is a Frill. It’s a rubbish idea. Back in the 1960s, the school systems of Canada were run by people my grand parents age who had lived through the Great Depression. My grandmother told me that when my dad ruined a pair of pants, if she wasn’t able to fix those pants, it was a disaster. They literally could not afford another pair of pants. Trust me, had people my grand parents’ generation thought music was an educational frill, it would have been flushed down the toilet long before any of us were born.
In my view the Vancouver School Board is simply making it harder for kids to succeed. I now politely demand an immediate and complete restoration of Elementary Band and Strings district-wide. No half measures. No studies (work done; see above). Just a willingness to get on with it.
“But how do we pay for it?” I hear you say. Your relationship with Mr. Fleming is the key.
I can arrange a group to serenade him outside his constituency office in Victoria. That group would have include all of you. I have a reliable connection who can give you all emergency voice lessons.
Think about it. And if you think I’m kidding; think again.
– Rob.
(Still Hudson PAC Chair despite 2019 being the hardest on record)
P.S. Thanks for the dirt on the field!
P.P.S.
