Our Educational Options

To the Editor:

I recently read several significant letters in The Bee and I would like to respond to two topics in the January 27 issue.

The first issue has to do with the suggestion of Oscar Berendsohn that we consider expanding technical training for students who do not wish to pursue a liberal arts program [“Take The Politics Out Of Education”]. High school students would do well to consider this alternative because if they do not have “a marketable education” plan that will assure them a job when they graduate, they will find few worthwhile opportunities to make a living.

In the next ten years, many of the trade specialists will have retired and there will be an increased demand for replacing these professionals. Will there be such a demand for college graduates who majored in interesting subjects? What skills will they have developed that corporate American wants? The reality is that we are competing in “a global market” where emerging countries have the talent and a skilled labor force that in some cases make it difficult for us to be competitive.

This is the new reality and this requires what I and other observers have referred to as a “New Think” for obvious reasons. We have to explore new ways of thinking in relation to the basic question, “What realistic outcomes are of urgent concern to American parents?” One Gallup poll found that parents wanted their high school graduates to have developed skills in literacy, numeracy (math), and in the ability to think. How much attention is devoted to teaching students to learn and apply thinking skills in the decisions they make in their school day and in their personal lives? When was the last time you asked them… don’t you think?

The second issue has to do with replacing the talented music teacher with two “instructional leaders” [“Keep The Teachers Or Face The Music,” Linda Watson; “Music Is More Than Entertainment,” Melinda Reynolds; “Shortsighted Budget Cuts,” Matt Cole; “Loss OF Music Teacher Hits A Sour Note,” Isabel Cummings]. Are we operating on an assumption that a talented music educator is now expendable and that musical training is not an urgent priority in students’ emotional and mental development? Music instruction in Europe is considered a critical learning experience. Psychological research shows that in listening and playing music compositions that the mind’s “attractors” adopt these “design sound patterns.” This experience stimulates learning because the mind as a self-organized information operating system functions as a “patterning system” where these “attractors” have an important role.

So here we are at this significant crossroad where a decision has to be made in our budget between what is meaningful to our students in terms of their emotional/mental development and what is deemed as an important intervention that may have a positive impact on student performance on tests. The reality is that music instruction has stimulated our students’ minds and emotions, creating a musical culture in Newtown.

My intent in writing this letter is to promote parental involvement in the decisionmaking process. But this requires a greater awareness of the real needs and wants of our students. The urgency is obvious. Parents and residents have a right to articulate their opinions as some have done in recent letters on January 27, 2012. But these few many not suffice to impact the final decision. The tax dollars will be invested in one or the other direction. We have to ask ourselves, which option will help our students achieve their highest level of mental/emotional development in their lifetime?

Dr Rudy Magnan

60 Watkins Drive, Sandy Hook                                 February 1, 2012