So You Say That the Rest of School Could Learn from Jazz Band? OK, I'm LIstening...

A Facebook friend linked to a very interesting article in Psychology Today where the author, William Klemm (a neuroscience professor at Texas A&M) suggests that the one subject in school that's really doing things well is...jazz band.

Hearing such wonderful music from children raised a nagging question. Why can’t kids master complicated science, math, language arts, or social studies? Why does everybody struggle so mightily to get kids to pass simple-minded government-mandated tests in academic subjects? And then it hit me. Jazz-band teachers do the right things in teaching that other teachers need to learn how to do. Two things are essential in teaching, the professionalism of the teacher and the motivation of the students. Most school jazz programs provide both. Sad to say, this is not so true of traditional curriculum.

Read the whole thing; it's definitely worth your time. And feel free to hit the comment button to continue the discussion if you wish.