Competition, Knowledge, and the Loss of Educational Vision

Throughout the United States, we are witnessing the growth of a fundamental mistrust of public schools. We are told that our education system must be made more efficient and competitive. At the same time, many schools in urban and rural areas are experiencing a debilitating fiscal crisis. There are insistent calls to return to the "basics." In combination, these economic and ideological tendencies have profoundly affected some curricular areas more than others. Music and the arts are increasingly considered "frills," with thousands of positions being cut or not filled. Not only are such positions unnecessary, but they and the knowledge they represent are too expensive in a time when everything in schools must be connected to the project of making our nation economically strong and committed to a "knowledge economy."