Archive: Opinions

That Lansing got Best Communities for Music Education award comes as no surprise. Lansing has its educational priorities straight, and that's a big reason the school district has a good reputation, which attracts home buyers and sweetens tax revenue.

Music and other arts education are like fuel for a school district. Repeated research shows that music education raises achievement in all other subjects. All of them. Easy example: Ever thought of the math involved in music? It can get intense, and a kid learns to think fast, reading music. Kids become better thinkers, better listeners, more respectful, more social, and earners of better grades with music study. And happier. Music training actually made high school physics easier for me.

In spite of these facts, some school boards and parents consider the arts a 'frill'. It sounds like overstatement to say that art saves lives. But it does, indeed, and it pays huge dividends. Congratulations to Lansing for supporting their "farm team" in such an important way.

Jim Evans
Ithaca NY
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