Choices

    The pleasure inherent in artistic expression is fundamental.  It is an integral part of human nature, matter for the soul.  Students who learn to enjoy a musical piece, poem, canvas, or any visceral template remain open to all of life's pleasures.  How many of us remember a song, use it to bring back memories of a moment in time?
    Yet we find our schools conflicted by a moral dilemma.  Basics, protocols, grades and creative pleasure do correlate.  Relevancy is not the issue, validity is.  I can numerically judge a math test.  How to evaluate music appreciation and talent?  The subjective nature of such issues often divide parents, school boards and communities.  Resources devoted to something tangible are easily defended.  "Here it is."  "Watch what it can do."  Like the child spinning a top, intriguing, attractive, fits perfectly in the box.
    I do not argue that academic proficiency is irrelevant, simply take the position that living requires a varied palette.  Jefferson took pleasure in the violin, Oppenheimer his Gita.  Music and the written word fill the spaces.  After all what is prayer but fugue created for an individual mind set.
    Resources set aside for artistic education are never wasted.  Students who relish the poetry in life learn to accommodate life's grievances.  Einstein softly sang while sailing.  It's all part of the same gambit.  If you close your eyes Euclid can become lyrical.  The proposition that learning and creativity are symbiotic is amply proven in each breath we take.  "Don't only practice your art but force your way into its secrets.  For it and knowledge can raise man to the divine."
    It is a strange contradiction.  Education and self cannot be budgeted and yet pragmatically they must be.  Solutions may prove difficult.  They are not impossible.  With time, patience and understanding we can effectively weigh our choices and produce an academic program relevant to all human needs.  To those with their eyes on the prize the solution is obvious.  Share the dollar and dance.