ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

You are here: Home / Others / An Open Letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education

An Open Letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education

by Leave a Comment


Dear Secretary Duncan,
 

Thank you for your open letter to America’s teachers.  We appreciate that you want to work with us and that you respect our opinions.  Therefore, we would like to bring a few items to your attention on behalf of the music education community.
 
As you know, local budget cuts are leading to significant curtailment of school music programs, thereby depriving millions of students of an education that includes music.  According to the National Endowment for the Arts, this erosion has been taking place for decades.  It is absolutely imperative that the arts remain a core academic subject as designated by ESEA, and music is an essential element of the arts. 
 
In your letter, you mentioned that you have met many teachers who are willing to be held accountable for outcomes over which they have some control.  We agree wholeheartedly.  We urge you to work with your colleagues in the United States Congress to ensure that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides a reasonable relationship among music teacher responsibility, state and local curricular control, and accountability.
 
Every student in the United States should have the opportunity to reap the benefits of a high quality music education experience, including curricular offerings in choir, band and orchestra, as well as broader engagements for the general school population.  While we are thrilled about the upcoming release of the new complete Fast Response Statistical Survey (FRSS) on the arts, eleven years is far too long to wait for information that is crucial to the national state of music and arts education. 
 
Therefore, we ask that the Department of Education engage in the collection of robust data on the presence of music programs across the nation so that Americans can be assured that our students are receiving a well-rounded education, and so that music advocates can better understand how to apply their resources.  Comprehensive questions about music education should be included in the Department’s routine Schools and Staffing, Teacher Follow-up, and Principal Follow-up surveys.  The National Assessment of Educational Progress in the Arts should be implemented once every five years.
 

Music education provides students with the opportunity to develop creativity and to hone skills that will benefit them throughout the rest of their lives.  In addition to its inherent cultural value, music teaches everything from coordination to self-discipline, and provides a variety of unique avenues for intellectual growth.   Music and the other arts are among society’s most compelling and effective pathways for ensuring 21st century readiness for every student.  These skills include the 4 Cs:  critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity & innovation, and are gained through sequential music instruction.  Once again, thank you for the opportunity to express thoughts on behalf of the music education community. 
 
Sincerely,
 
The National Association for Music Education – MENC
American Choral Directors Association
American String Teachers Association
Chorus America
League of American Orchestras
Music Publishers Association of the United States
Music Teachers National Association
National Association of Schools of Music
National Guild for Community Arts Education

 


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I understand Jon Eiche’s concern, but believe the letter to the Secretary of Education is well written. Those who have given and are giving a lifetime to “educating the heart as well as the mind…and growing well-rounded human beings” (as he notes) are the true believers who have experienced the joy and enrichment of music making in its various forms. I fear that a good many people…perhaps a good many in positions holding the power to cut music programs, may be observed with glazed eyes when we speak in what, by the very nature of the art, are often vague terms as we try to explain the unexplainable. That said, I believe the leaders of these various organizations must also speak in terms now familiar in the world of education.

     This letter does that, in my opinion.
    Howard Meharg

  2. Here’s hoping the Secretary pays heed to this letter. 
     
    Without wishing to criticize, I would like to ask a question in all sincerity. Isn’t it possible to promote music and arts education on their own merits, as disciplines that educate the heart as well as the mind, that help to grow well-rounded human beings? Aside from a passing reference to the “inherent cultural value” of music, this letter offers the familiar justifications of how music aids in what one might interpret as “the really important stuff”: coordination, self-discipline, intellectual growth, 21st century readiness, and the four C’s.
     
    The signatories of this letter are an impressive list of musical and music-education organizations. Don’t any of them feel we can promote music for its own sake, as an essential component of our humanity? I’ve been told we need to “sell the sizzle, not the steak”; I’m not convinced.

Leave a Reply

© 2026 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy