It is argued that schools’ curriculum should include musical classes. While children come across with the benefits of learning how to play instruments of music, I believe that this should be optional, not compulsory.
On the one hand, there are several reasons why learning how to play musical instruments is beneficial for children. The main one is that it improves cognitive skills such as memory and attention. This is because playing musical instruments allows to development of another hemisphere of the children’s brain, which is responsible for emotions and senses. Thus, children who can play the violin, for example, could solve a problem quicker than an ordinary one. Another essential factor is affordability. Attending private musical classes is significantly expensive compared to other art classes. So, if musical lessons are added to the school curriculum, it gives a huge opportunity to low-income classes of society to teach their children to play musical instruments such as piano or guitar without any additional fees.
On the other hand, musical lessons at school should not be compulsory but optional due to several factors. The major one is the wasting of teachers’ time. As some pupils are not brilliant at music, teachers spend much time in order to teach them how to play the musical instrument, instead training a gifted one. However, it does not give the expected result, and they cannot perform any composition eventually. Another factor is the declining educational quality of children. Some students are good at other subjects such as mathematics or physics. So, in order to get high marks in all subjects, for example, children spend enormous time to practice playing instruments of music. As a result, due to hardship, they get rid of learning other subjects, even their lovely math, which deteriorates the achievement level of children.
In conclusion, although I accept several advantages of learning how to play musical instruments, I remain convinced that musical classes should be optional at schools for other significant factors.