Rick Steves Speaks Out for Music in Schools

I spend 100 days a year in Europe, but Day 101 — the day I return to my hometown of Edmonds, Washington — is always my happiest. Looking through my office window, I can see my old junior high — and the neighborhood pub across the street fills the space that once held “Steves Sound of Music,” my dad’s piano store.

The news in Edmonds this week isn’t good. As is sadly happening in small towns across the US, our school board held a special meeting to discuss budget cuts — and shared their plan to give music classes across the district the axe.

 

If you were anything like my best friends and me in high school, it’s almost impossible to imagine a public school education without “nonessentials” like music, drama, debate, and art. Moments like the one you see here were some of our happiest and most productive. The arts kept us engaged. (That’s me on the left with my sousaphone, providing the woofer foundation for Mr. Rhinehart’s German oom-pah band.)

Maybe it’s because my dad was once a beloved high school band director, and I saw what he meant to his students. Maybe it’s because of the impact of these programs on my own education. And maybe it’s simply because music classes are fun — and teach us that we can all be creative spirits.

But here's my question: Why, if my small-town high school could afford music classes 50 years ago, can we not afford them today? There’s no doubt that we are a more affluent society in 2023 than in 1973. Yet choir, band, and orchestra (along with some art, drama, and special ed classes) are all on my hometown chopping block. Rather than a lack of money…it’s a matter of priorities. A school district budget shows our values in a stark way. How much we pay for our schools and what we can afford for our youngest citizens is a choice…and it shapes the character of the people who will inherit our world.

We are the richest nation on earth. Can we not afford the arts? What, then, are the fruits of our wealth? Must we focus education only on STEM, or can we afford to add a little music to our children’s lives? I’d love to hear your thoughts.