Are Our High Schools Becoming Glee-ful?

Eduflack arts

I’ll admit it, I’m a Gleek.  I love the Fox show, Glee.  I’ve taken the Facebook quiz (and learned I am most like Rachel).  I posted last fall’s Single Ladies/football scene to my FB page, I loved this week’s Les Miz nod, and I’m even looking forward to next week’s Lady Gaga homage.  I even have a running list of those songs and/or performers I want to see covered by the Glee kids.  

And it doesn’t appear that I am alone.  The number of Gleeks out there seems to be increasing exponentially, and many of them are surprises (I’m guessing a few will be surprised that Eduflack is such a fan).  After a year, we are reminded of the enormous value of a high school glee club, the role music can play in student development, self-esteem, and other qualitative measures we expect to see from our schools.  So it begs the question, is Glee having any impact on school budgets and priorities?

Even since the introduction of the NCLB era nearly a decade ago, we’ve heard the urban legends that art and music programs across the nation were being gutted in favor or reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic.  Just last year, NAEP released its long-anticipated assessment of student arts performance, which looked at the core competencies U.S. students have in both the visual arts and music (with many now demanding that the assessment be offered more than once nearly every decade).

After a year of watching Glee, are high school students demanding music options in their schools?  Are school boards and administrators seeing growing interest in arts electives?  Are we seeing an increase in the number of upstart glee clubs beginning in high schools across the heartland?  Is Glee impacting instruction and curricular options in our public schools?

More than two decades ago, we talked about how the popularity of L.A. Law dramatically increased the number of applicants for law school in the mid-1980s.  In the early 1990s, we saw spikes in the number of medical school applications because of television programs like ER.  Will Glee have the same impact, particularly as we see a growing demand for educating the “whole child” and focusing on more than just the ELA and math required by state assessments?

Only time will tell.  But if the Glee buzz continues to rise, we may very well have a renaissance in music education in K-12.  And we may even see more social acceptance of track suits in the workplace.
 

21 thoughts on “Are Our High Schools Becoming Glee-ful?”

  2. We can only hope that high schools and students alike begin to realize the importance of music and art. The old approach of “teach them only what they NEED and let them have their hobbies” is tired and has not done a bit of good. Of course, reading writing and ‘rithmetic are extremely important, but so is expression and artistic creativity. Not all kids are the same, and some may show talent in areas other than these basic learned skills. We have to keep the door open for those children who learn differently and express themselves differently.

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