June 3, 2007
There is a great deal of concern and debate regarding America’s continued leadership and competitiveness in an increasingly flat global marketplace. In today's post-industrial economy, a high premium is placed on math and science skills. Boards of education around the country are attempting to respond with more rigorous graduation requirements focused on achievement in the math and science curricula.
This approach, often at the expense of music, art, dance, and drama studies, unfortunately overlooks the critical linkage between the creative arts and the application of creativity in the workplace.
I absolutely endorse and support more effective learning in the areas of math and science whether through additional coursework or improvements to the current curricula. The most attractive opportunities for today's graduates will be as knowledge workers, where math and science skills are “jacks or better.” They get you in the game. Further, we as a nation must develop new generations with these skills to maintain our competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Workers of the Future Need More Than Calculators & Microscopes
While math and science skills are fundamental to 21st Century business, the success factors for any individual or organization are far greater. Arguably one of the great success stories of the tech sector, Microsoft®, has built a “competency wheel” that defines 37 workplace skills that the corporation values.
Only three of these competencies are related to technology, a dramatic illustration that math and science skills alone are not enough.
Students must also learn teamwork, organization, time management, group problem solving, and leadership, but where and how do they acquire such important but intangible skills? Most people recognize team sports as one source for the experiences that build those competencies. Another is participation in collaborative fine arts such as band, drama, chorus, dance and orchestra. In a 1995 article in the Chicago Music Alliance newsletter, management expert Peter Drucker is quoted as saying, “your student orchestras and bands are ... teaching your students to be valued performers in the organizations of the future.”
Creativity 101: How to Succeed in Business
The fine arts carry additional developmental benefits. Whether it’s music or dance notation, sculpture or painting, or translation of written word to emotion and action, all fine arts experience is built on conversion of the abstract into reality. This is Creativity 101 as taught in no other academic setting. According to Grant Venerable, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Lincoln University, in Teaching Music, April 1997 “the very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians.”
The positive correlation between possessing an arts education and achievement in the workplace isn't proven conclusively, but there's mounting data to suggest it. One article, published in The Dallas Morning News, March 15, 2006, quotes two renowned educators. Merlin Donald, chair of Case Western Reserve University's department of cognitive sciences in Cleveland says, “there’s clearly a link between math and music in the literature on aptitude testing. People with high aptitude in mathematics are more likely to have aptitude in musical areas." Donald also says that scientists suspect there are similarities in the way brains are organized among people with musical and mathematical abilities. Antonio Garcia, director of jazz studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, teaches a course on careers for music majors and encourages musicians to consider computer-related careers. "A musician's right brain is focusing on creative thoughts, such as creating great melodies and conveying emotion," says Garcia in the same article. "At the same time, his or her left brain is focusing on the mathematical structures of music. A tremendous amount of math is involved in making music."
Music Education Plays Important Role in Dropout Prevention
A study of 11th and 12th grade students in 2000-2003 published by the University of British Columbia concluded that “...the time dedicated to music participation does not impede, but rather goes hand in hand with or even fosters academic excellence in other “core” subjects.”
And, a 1992 Florida Dept of Education study of at-risk students, “The Role of the Fine and Performing Arts in High School Dropout Prevention,” found that 75% said their participation in the arts influenced their decision to graduate from high school.
More and more research is showing that fine arts studies make good students better and motivate less successful students to stay the course.
Performing Outside the Box
On a personal note, I have made a career doing things that weren't even invented when I graduated from high school 40 years ago. It will be the same for today's graduates, only on a sharply accelerating timeline. Much of what I learned in the classroom is obsolete or, at best, only marginally useful.
What has made a difference in my life has been the ability to learn as I go, to adapt to new ideas, to have the courage to take risks, and to feel confident I will be able to perform and successfully meet the challenges of new situations. These skills I learned through participation in band and drama.
-- Fred Behning retired from IBM Corporation after a 32-year career that included assignments in systems engineering, product development, management, and customer technology briefings, and is still an IBM consultant. A life-long musician, Fred plays oboe and English horn in the Williamson County Symphony Orchestra and the Austin Symphonic Band.
