I’m sure most of you remember the good times from middle school, or even elementary school, when you would be in the middle of choir class, singing along with your best friend standing right by your side, laughing after you shared a look when one of you messed up. Just these good memories and feelings are reasons why it’s essential for a student to take music. You might have had a music period at the end of the day, when you were so relieved that you had finally gotten through the day to spend time enjoying music with friends you had in that class. Or, maybe, you had music at the beginning of the day, and it set the whole day up right.
What I’m trying to say is, some of you took a music class, or music classes, because you had a choice. Whether music made you happy, playing an instrument made you feel electric, or you wanted to learn something new, you chose music for a reason.
If you stuck with it across a couple of years, there had to be a reason why. Maybe a good teacher or fellow friend in class kept you going, or you wanted to take your instrumental or vocal skills to the next level—whatever it was, you stayed because you felt a joy, a spark of happiness, a tug, something that kept you signing up for this class, year after year. And that something was, in no way, insignificant. You did it for a reason. Let’s put this into a scenario, so you can really see it happening.
Say you were in elementary school, fifth grade, and you had an assembly in the gym, when the middle school choir came to perform for you. It didn’t matter whether you were already taking choir, or any other kind of music class—you still had to be a part of the assembly. The middle school choir came to demonstrate what they’d learned, and to show you what taking this class would be like, if you chose to continue it the next year. Say you weren’t doing any music throughout your elementary school career but you were curious what it would be like to take a music class in middle school, since you’d heard great excitement about it from classmates already in music.
The choir performed two pieces that they’d been working on throughout the year, one drawn from each of their two concerts. Then their conductor got up on stage, in front of them, and started talking about the class throughout the year, breaking the year into a few chunks. You heard about how they have two concerts per year, about four months to prepare for each concert, and how their concerts were typically one hour long, in front of families and friends. You heard about a few rare solo and duet opportunities, and how other music students might be playing instrumental parts with you while you performed. You thought this sounded cool. By the end of the assembly, you were handed a piece of paper asking for your name, whether you were currently in a music class, if so, which one, and whether you were interested in taking or continuing a music class. And in this scenario, the answer to the last two questions would be “no,” and then “yes, orchestra.”
You might be wondering, why orchestra after all this choir talk? Well, in our scenario, our listener was excited at the chance to perform on stage, and the chance to perform with other musical groups, and they had always been interested in learning the celloIn middle school, they have an average schedule, with orchestra as their elective. In seventh grade, they decide to do both orchestra and choir, now taking two electives, with everything else. At the end of their seventh grade year, they have the chance to advance in math and science. They decide to advance in math, since math is their favorite subject. They finish their eighth grade year.
Over the course of middle school, they’ve done many performances on stage, as they’d wanted to since fifth grade, and across all three years they’ve done ten on-stage performances, between orchestra and choir. They have built a strong passion for music by now. They enjoy a relaxing choir class with their friends, and are confidently playing cello (for three years now, going on four) in the orchestra, with a steady and joyous conductor.
So, tell me why, at lunch during their first week of ninth grade, when their friend asks them if they’re taking orchestra and choir again, they say “No.” It doesn’t make sense, does it? Well, in our scenario, on their transition to high school, there was a schedule difference they could not get around.
The difference between middle school and high school was that instead of having two rotating classes—two periods, each with four possible class options, typically a science lab, a music class, a study hall or second music class (if you were taking two), and a PE class—in high school there was only one rotating class. That one rotating class alternated between science lab and PE. Now, they still had the same amount of periods, so they had one period for an elective or the choice of a study hall. In this scenario, they chose orchestra, since that was what they’d started with, and they didn’t want or feel the need for a study hall. Now, you might be thinking that there is a solution to this problem. You might be thinking zero period. Okay, maybe it could be a solution.
But have we ever considered that it’s just not a good enough of a solution to really be considered one? It’s not a proper solution because there are multiple flaws. Then we end up with a group of students, who want to take zero period and two music classes or electives, but they end up not being able to, even though they were offered this so-called “solution.”
Let’s put this back into our scenario in case you’re confused about how it might not work out. The student hears about zero period through the buzz of the hallways and is curious whether it could let them take two music classes in high school, just as they’d originally wanted.
They go see their guidance counselor. The guidance counselor says that she’s proud that they worked so hard to find a solution. She says, “I must look over a few things, but I’ll get back to you later. We’ll touch up on this when we have your meeting scheduled.” They leave the office, in full anticipation, hoping for the best and that this all works out so they can enjoy both of their music classes. As the readers, we know that zero period isn’t going to work out, even though it seems like it is the “solution.” The problem in our scenario is not being able to take zero period because of restrictions from outside limitations.
On Wednesday, they stop by the guidance counselor’s office, expecting to hear some good news. They walk in with their father and they start discussing their high school schedule. The guidance counselor asks the father: “Your child brought up zero period to me—are you curious about how that would work?” The father looked confused. He states: “No, no, I’m not curious at all. The schedule’s just fine the way it is, and I don’t see a reason we need an extra class.”
The guidance counselor explains the situation about being able to take two music classes, but how that’s only possible if a zero period is taken, and an extra class is added to the schedule. The father says there’s no need for music and no reason to waste an hour of sleep. The student’s heart sinks, even though they’ve heard words similar to these many times.
“Surely we could work something else out for you?” the guidance counselor offers. The father stands, thanks them for the meeting, and then leaves without another word. The student rushes “back to class,” (the bathroom), disappointed, as always, in their father’s choices. They never understood his opinion and why he thought they were incapable of it. So, back to their first week of freshman year, when their friend asks them if they’re taking orchestra and choir again, they say “no.” We now know why. Zero period is not accessible. However, that’s only one reason, and there are certainly more than that.
Factors that make it inaccessible include transportation, limiting home factors, sleep and student well-being, and a lack of available rotating-class periods. Let’s go into why these reasons make zero period inaccessible.
Maybe it’s the school schedule. We all have different ideas about an ideal schedule, which, of course, has so many factors and parts to consider, which leads us to not have the perfect schedule in place. Our counselors try their best to think about bus routes, start and end time of our seven-hour day, sports and clubs after school, and how much time we should have for a certain number of periods and classes, but there are many complaints that the schedule isn’t as functional as it could be. If we had more classes, but shortened lengths, which some desire, then we could do more, but spend less time on each. Others would rather choose, say, four main things (classes, in this case) and spend long amounts of time on these four things. Counselors get to decide this for us… but why?
Buses are another reason zero period isn’t accessible. A bus route might not work, totally miss a stop, or not include a student’s house, whether it’s because they live outside the district limits or because the bus is late everyday. Either way, it’s not a functioning system for them to use. This results in them needing a ride to zero period, which requires having an accessible caregiver who is willing to spend a decent amount of time driving them to zero period. Then that caregiver has to go straight to work, or needs to head home first and then go to work, which is a lot of wasted driving time for the caregiver.
This leads us to caregivers. Of course, they shouldn’t be expected to give a ride—that’s one thing—but in addition, there might be limiting home or outside-of-school factors that prevent the student from being able to sign up and take a zero period class. These factors could range from concerns about lack of sleep or an overloaded schedule to the parent simply saying no and withholding permission for a reason that isn’t specified.
You might’ve been wondering about how negative and strict the father in our scenario was when zero period was mentioned. You can tell he criticizes zero period right off the bat, without even listening to an explanation of how it works. He said there was no need for music, but then he mentioned something very important: sleep. In his mind, this was a con to zero period, as you need to get to school an hour or so earlier, which most likely has you waking up earlier, affecting your sleep schedule. This leads us into the pros, and cons.
To turn possible lack of sleep into a positive, students spend more time on academics and on expanding their skills. It is possible to still get enough sleep for your body and be able to function properly, even if you’re getting up an hour or so earlier. Cons might include stress levels, but have we considered that without music and some artistic way of expression, we might stay tense and be more stressed without that elective. One of the pros is the student’s well-being. Expressing and enjoying yourself in music can be central to a student’s happiness.
So, these being our four main limitations and the pros and cons of the situation, why is zero period the wrong way to go? One of the main reasons to go through high school successfully is to explore what you want in life and what you may want to do later on. Students should be the ones to choose. They should be able to choose what their schedule looks like and what they want to do, as it’s their life.
You want the student to be able to find their true selves, and express who they are without shame. You want them to find the fun things that brighten up their everyday life, and leave high school knowing what those are. Some ways of doing this are having fun and being musical. For all we know, that person could go on to a famous music career and become a chart-topping artist.
Overall, I think that music, art, tech, and other electives are important for the students to take as good memories are formed through having fun, enjoying time with friends, expanding on skills, and really choosing where students themselves want to go in life. We should have two rotating classes in high school, or a differently designed schedule, so that students can explore their music careers and have the choice they were promised, especially so that they can take two music classes without having to come to school early for an extra class. They will also have amazing opportunities to do things such as All-County and All-State performances, getting the chance to make music with others from different districts, really boosting mental health and overall happiness of students.
Be First to Comment