What is with parents these days?

[Prudence]

I went to a number of different elementary schools within the same district. The one I went to 2nd-4th grade was oboxious because the teacher was obnoxious. One of my classmates was in the Seattle Boy's Choir so most of class was spent hearing how wonderful it was; clearly none of the rest of us had any talent, as we were not in the Seattle Boy's Choir. Because the rest of us were judged incapable early on, we didn't learn anything.

At the school I went to in 5th-6th grade, our music classes put on a musical every year. That was a great experience. We learned a wide variety of things with actual practical application. We learned about auditioning. We each got parts and had to learn lines. We learned that one doesn't always get the part one wants. (Okay, I always did. But I'm sure the others learned a valuable lesson.) We all had to sing. We had to put together costumes. We learned how to put together an event. We had practice starting a project and working together as a team with varied skill levels across varied skills. We had experience performing in front of audiences.

These various "sub-experiences" were valuable lessons with practical application outside music class. Obviously we didn't all rush to Tony Award-winning careers on Broadway, but it set the groundwork for skills that allow us today to work on teams in the workplace and present proposals or workshops to an audience of busness personnel. Sure, we gave speeches and so forth in our regular classes, but the focus there was generally on content. Music class was the venue for teaching personal and teamwork skills outside the formal classroom -- all wrapped up in something "fun." And if we learned a little about music along the way - so much the better.

What didn't occur to me until years later was that our musicals were just for our class - so our music teacher must have been working on a dozen musicals or so. Sure, we probably all did the same musical, but still - that's a lot of work for one teacher.