"Musical instrument may be better investment than @&!#@ computer"

Bill Van Cannon, editor of the Tri County Press of Cuba City, Wis. writes on March 12th "Musical instrument may be better investment than @&!#@ computer." After viewing a PSA from the National Coalition for Music Education on a local station and discussing the findings of the Shaw/Rauscher study on music and early childhood development he writes, "I've attended a lot of school board meetings the past few years and I have yet to see anyone seriously question the value of computer technology. In fact, when school districts talk about computer technology they tend to talk abut it in terms of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. But where's the empirical evidence to show that color monitors and more hard drive actually produces better students?"

After commenting further of the mad rush to spend on technology "to make Bill Gates rich" he makes his point, "I find this all very ironic as I consider the plight of my mother, a music teacher of some thirty years who is nearing retirement." He explains how she is now having to teach computers instead of music, how it is a waste of talent and how the children would be better served with supporting music instead of this made rush for technology. "The answer my friend can be found in those musical notes blowing in the wind."

Source: Tri County Press, 3/12/98

This article was taken from the Music Education Online Site.