During the recent decades, an increasing number of research studies demonstrated the value of musical education on a child’s cognitive development. Some experiments state that young musicians excel in long-term verbal memory, while others indicate that their language and mathematical skills are significantly enhanced. These results should not come across as surprising. After all, children who study music are raised in an intellectual environment that promotes creativity, sensitivity, and abstract reasoning.

Two American researchers, Dr. Frances Rauscher and Dr. Gordon Shaw, conducted multiple research studies that explored the correlation between music and early brain development. The discoveries showed a noticeable improvement in the spatial and temporal reasoning abilities for children with previous musical experience. Subsequently, these cognitive skills would have an essential influence that leads to future mathematical success.

Other studies highlight the positive effects on literacy. Young musicians experiment with numerous rhythms, rhymes and sounds, all of which are helpful for developing communication skills. These children are also exposed to reading song sheets, learning new vocabulary, and comprehending narrative structures. Furthermore, their familiarity with a musical language allows students to understand other verbal languages in a more advanced context. In essence, young musicians become young readers over time.

In 1993, an original research by Shaw initiated the provocative ‘Mozart effect’ phenomenon. His discoveries were reported heavily by the media, which led to the popular (if somewhat misconstrued) belief that listening to classical music will benefit a child’s mental intelligence. While some scientists had discredited the theory since then, the rapid interest in relaxing music led to other positive outcomes. For example, listening to Mozart reduces the stress and medical complications for expecting mothers. Also, many parents are encouraged to provide a wealthy musical education for their children.

Listening to music may not have made children automatically smarter, but learning music could still provide some pleasant results. By enrolling in an acclaimed school of music, parents have enriched the available opportunities for their offspring’s cognitive development. As part of their education, these young musicians learn to count, calculate the time of the notes, memorize complex patterns, and even develop philosophical thoughts by researching the history of famous musicians.

Moreover, children with musical education are often associated with positive personality attributes and characteristics. Attending routine music lessons lead to diligent behaviour. Caring for their own musical instrument teaches them responsibility. Understanding the different contexts behind each song expands their cultural sensitivity. Most important of all, learning music strengthens the children’s confidence and self-esteem necessary for them to succeed in the world.

Music education is readily available at reasonable prices, although there are some mandatory expenses involved. In order to enrich your children’s learning habits, as well as make music easily accessible, experts recommend the purchase of at least one musical instrument within the household. Some parents might feel hesitant to make such pricey investments, but there is a wide selection of options to accommodate different incomes. Buying a used piano, for example, is affordable for most families.

As the jazz pianist Bill Evans once said, "When you play music, you discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed". All children deserve to strengthen their cognitive skills and determine their identity through music. However, it is the caretaker’s responsibility to give them this valuable life opportunity. Do not hesitate anymore; enrol them in a music school today

Today, I went to one of the most enjoyable yoga classes I have ever been to, and it was only a two-minute walk from my dorm! I have never practiced yoga on a regular basis, but when I was scanning my college’s weekly event calendar I was pleased to see that they offered tri-weekly yoga classes. So, this morning I popped into a room in the same building as my philosophy and math classes, and followed the instructor through two hours of stretching, holding, lengthening, relaxing, etc.

            To be honest, whenever I had taken a yoga class in the past I always felt like I didn’t belong. I felt so ignorant to the practice of yoga, its history, and all that it represented. The class I took today reminded me that it’s okay just to enjoy something. I felt so relieved from all of the pre-holiday stress that was taking a toll on my body, that I had no worries at all about not being a yoga master.

            If you’re in college or high school or wherever, I would advise you to research if your school offers yoga classes. If they do offer classes, GO!,  they are often free or very inexpensive. If not, see if your school has the resources to set something up. I learned that the instructor at my class today is a teacher at a local school and just teaches yoga on the side. Chances are there are talented and knowledgeable people in your community who would enjoy helping students feel more centered.

 

This issue has reared its head in the press again this week and has sparked much conversation and debate. The argument put forward this week is that more should be done to deter parents from lying to get their child in to the school of their choice and there should be a bigger crackdown on those parents that have done this.

Now if you ask many parents they will say that they want thee best for their children and I think you have to commend parents that put their children first and do anything they can to give their children the best upbringing possible but the question is where do you draw the line?

If you as a parent are willing to cheat and lie to get your child in to the school of your choosing what message does that send to your children. As parents we have to be examples to our children. There are other problems associated with cheating to get in to schools like if other children find out that you cheated to get your child in they may pick on your child or you yourself may have problems with other parents at the school.

Schools can be a bit of a postcode lottery at times which I don’t think is fair but cheating is not the answer. If you happen to have a house in the radius of a good school your lucky but then what can happen is that wealthier families can afford to buy and move in to houses near these schools to get their children in which isn’t cheating but unfair on low income families who can’t do that.

I think more needs to be done to improve failing or underperforming schools as this is the only way we will avoid this situation. At the moment it seems more is being done on the prevention side but not the cure. It is only when we work on the cure that we will improve education for young people which is the real issue here.

What are your thoughts on cheating to get a school place? We would love to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=789

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The US Department of Education just opened its newest stimulus fund, the i3 fund, for school districts with especially innovative ideas. There are stringent requirements to receive the money, and the funding can be pulled at any time, yet the money will go directly to school districts. Check out CNN's coverage here.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Chicago after the recent death of a high school student there. Derrion Albert was beaten to death by a mob of teens, and some people are blaming the death on Secretary Duncan's plans as the former head of Chicago Public Schools, where many failing campuses were closed down and students moved to different schools, often across rival gang lines. The Associated Press has the details.

A new study has shown that people who have a poor education may end up having poor health. Although scientists are still deliberating about what causes this phenomenon, hypotheses include increased income and benefits from higher education, better understanding of medical concepts, and having more leeway to take days off when sick. Learn more about the study here.

In honor of Columbus Day, classrooms all across America are trying to portray this very controversial figure in a more balanced light. The Associated Press writes about teachers who are trying all sorts of methods, from dressing up like Columbus, to having students put the man on trial. Find out what else schools are doing here.

Which demographic of people is the majority in prison? Young black men who have dropped out of high school. According to Reuters, 23% of black male dropouts ages 16 to 24 are in jail any given day, compared to 6-7% of Asian, Hispanic, or White dropouts. Read more about this crisis and others affecting young adults who drop out of high school.

Like many students across the country, I was unable to watch President Obama's speech to students in school yesterday. School districts had many excuses for this, according to the LA Times--from parents complaints to simply not having the technology necessary.

And of course, there were plenty of school districts where it was decided the address didn't fit into the state standards, and that was that. In my AP Biology class, we had already started our first lecture of the year, and there was no way our teacher was going to halt that to watch the president speak.

Naturally, after all the uproar regarding the so-called "socialist indoctrination" that was just bound to be present in the speech, I was disappointed I didn't have a chance to view it and see for myself what the fuss was about.

Luckily, my English teacher gave my class an assignment to read the text of the speech and analyze it. I was all set to speak in glowing terms of the astounding rhetoric which I was sure would be present in the speech, after Obama's previous speech-making triumphs.

Unfortunately, I was pretty underimpressed.

I appreciated Obama's intent and the purpose behind his speech--to encourage kids to take responsibility for their education and stay in school--but I didn't feel particularly inspired at all.

Most of the speech seemed to take on a lecturing tone, as the president echoed the old rules we know by heart--stay in school, do your homework, respect your teacher...the list goes on. Maybe I'm just a cynical high school junior who's not about to drop out of school, but the address didn't really inspire or motivate me.  

Furthermore, telling students that they should set good goals and be more responsible is probably not going to solve the high drop-out rate, low budgets, or any of the many problems that plague public schools. Like a lot of the so-called "solutions to the education crisis," the address was just a temporary band-aid fix that, especially in this case, grossly ignored the root of the problem.

But however condescending I found the speech, I didn't find a hint of "socialist indoctrination" anywhere. Whether or not the speech was effective, it seemed to be on the whole inoffensive. Yet somehow you get parents like this one from Dallas, Texas, who CNN quotes as saying, "The president's speeches tend to be [about] what's wrong with the country and what can we do to fix it. I believe this is the greatest country on Earth, and I try to teach that to my children. ... I don't want them hearing that there's a fundamental flaw with the country and the kids need to go forward to fix it."

I think this proves far more than the speech itself that we really need to ramp up America's educational system.

The full text of the speech is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
And you can find out more here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-schoolkids5-2009sep05,0,2023699.story
And here: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/07/obama.school.speech/