Bronco Green DraftProfessor HigginsSpeech II3/14/14Since the beginning of public education, educators have tried to understand how they can produce the best, most successful students by giving them the tools needed to succeed and ability to adapt to any situation in an exciting and engaging way. The answer has already been found and yet it struggles to hold its place in public school programs. The answer is music education. How music education is viewed by other areas of academic interest influences how it is treated. To convince non-musicians of the importance of music education, they must learn what musicians already know. They must learn what music education is capable of doing for the education of students around the world. Once what music education can do for one's career and ability to succeed in the world is made public, a shift in priorities can be made and music education will become essential. How music education is viewed from the perspective of a non-musician plays an important role in expanding music education in schools. Most school board members and leaders are not musicians, and their decisions directly affect the way music is taught. A very interesting fact is that even though polls show that most Americans agree that the arts are important, music department budgets have been cut across the United States (Kinzer). This fact leads to the conclusion that yes, most non-musicians agree that music education is important, but they find other academic areas such as science and mathematics to be more important to a person's education. student. A huge factor that led to the defunding of arts programs was the signing of a federal law called "No Child Left Behind"....... middle of paper ...... at d other careers and fields of study. He was able to transition from music to business easily thanks to the skills he learned as a musician. All of the skills that musicians learn from playing and learning an instrument and interacting with others within an ensemble are exactly what business leaders are looking for when hiring. All of these claims are supported by scientific evidence that a musician's cognitive function is significantly higher than that of the average person. The human brain is physically changed through learning music. With an understanding of how music education is perceived by musicians and non-musicians alike, as well as all the factual evidence that music creates better mentally equipped citizens, the move toward creating a greater place for music in public school curricula can be pursued with more purpose.