We went to my nieces' concert last night. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and prefer staying there, but last night I emerged from my safe haven and it was lovely. Both nieces sang, one sang and played the flute; lovely. North Attleboro has quite a music program. But much like our own town, it's the first program cut when it comes time to balancing their school department's budget. So the town selectmen and governing body has a balanced budget based upon an unbalanced education.
Oh it's not that I think music will save the world, but maybe it will. After all bombs haven't done the trick. But taking music out of a school curriculum is the harbinger for badness. When there is no music, that means that the health program has been cut, and the foreign language and physical education programs dissected to their bleached white bare bones. It means classes are supersized and AP classes that don't meet enrollment limits eliminated. It means extracurricular activities come with such a fee that they take a line item in a family's budget, and at the end of high school, our children can only compete for the hamburger flipping jobs on the fast food road to fame and fortune instead of one of the vine draped institutes of higher learning. It means that as a town we have denied our children an education for anything beyond the mega strip mall that divides our neighborhoods.
It's quiet here this morning. We left our two little ones in North Attleboro for a sleep over. Our drive home was far from quiet as the two teenagers in the back, one ours, the other a favorite cousin, discussed boys, school, sports, arts, everything, but school budgets. It was sweet chatter, and delightful. I love it when they are together, and wished we all lived closer. And maybe someday they will. Maybe they will attend the same college and share a dorm room; one the artist the other the scientist, if all goes according to their educational desires. Right now they are sleeping, sharing a room. Dead to the financial woes that threaten to unhinge their dreams.
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