It is commonly noted that students who take music classes tend to fare better than many of their peers in other classes. However, playing an instrument in school is not necessarily beneficial to one’s grade point average (GPA). It is all a matter of lost opportunity. Students who fare worse in core classes may view electives such as music as a chance to pull their GPA up, but unlike most classes, music classes don’t affect students’ GPAs.
Students are able to take only so many classes in a day. A student taking a class that doesn’t count towards their GPA loses the opportunity to take a class that could bring it up. This puts many students taking music classes at an academic disadvantage to their non-musical peers. And for what? There’s little rationale behind not letting music classes affect a student’s GPA.
After all, music classes are certainly worthwhile and important. Taking such a class makes one a more well-rounded individual. Additionally, studies by the German Institute for Economic Research, Emory University, and many others have linked playing music to a host of cognitive benefits in school and later in life; attaining these benefits should be encouraged. Moreover, while the Internet abounds with studies that have positive conclusions—and it seems that merely playing an instrument for some amount of time is all that’s required—few other academic subjects can promise more than benefits to employability later in life, and then only for students who master the subject. Cognitive gains made in music classes are retained, whereas adults in America are laughably bad at math, for example. (The staff at BuzzFeed scraped a mere 50.4 percent on 5th-grade math material.) Music is an extremely valuable class—people are paid thousands of dollars a year to teach it—so why shouldn’t it count towards a GPA?
In addition, not counting students’ grades in music classes can bring down their GPA. Consider the following table, showing two students’ grades in the stated courses and their unweighted GPA (average of grades for classes that count towards the GPA). Their classes are the same, except Edison takes a technology class and Beethoven takes Orchestra. Notice how their grades are the same, while their unweighted GPAs are not:
| Name | Eng. | Hist. | Math | Language | Science | Tech. or Music |
Unweighted GPA |
| Edison | 90 | 95 | 92 | 97 | 96 | 97 | 4.00 |
| Beethoven | 90 | 95 | 92 | 97 | 96 | 97 | 3.93 |
While a difference of .07 points seems small, it’s still unfair for Beethoven to be penalized for taking a valuable music class. The difference becomes more significant when applied to grades that are closer to the median:
| Eng. | Hist. | Math | Language | Science | Tech. or Music |
Unweighted GPA |
|
| Edison | 80 | 85 | 82 | 87 | 86 | 97 | 3.44 |
| Beethoven | 80 | 85 | 82 | 87 | 86 | 97 | 3.26 |
This presents a more serious problem: not only is not counting the positive influence Orchestra would have on Beethoven’s GPA unfair, but it also makes him look like he’s a worse student. (Obviously, Edison could do poorly in his technology class and drag down his GPA. However, the class gave him the opportunity to bring it up.)
Additionally, most students aren’t aware of this problem. Many whom I asked incorrectly believed that Orchestra counted towards their GPA, and a few admitted they didn’t know. One student who did know the truth didn’t realize until the middle of his sophomore year. In essence, students are not able to decide between grades or music when they sign up for music classes. Students aren’t told this information, nor is it easy to find.
What should be done? The answer is simple: let music count towards students’ GPAs. The need for this is not so material as it is ethical. In general, students in music classes perform very well academically and are not at any sort of academic risk.
IHS should recognize both the work these students put into their classes, and the fact that music classes are extremely valuable. Penalizing students for taking music devalues music classes and the work students put into them. Music is valuable and students shouldn’t have to choose between it and a potentially better GPA. It’s important, and it should count.