According to MENC’s Mission Statement, “Every individual should be guaranteed the opportunity to learn music and to share in musical experiences”. The statement goes on to say, “The mission of MENC: The National Association for Music Education is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all.”
Budget cuts have increased everyone’s awareness of the importance of keeping music education in our public schools. What about those who don’t attend public schools? What about the homeschooled?
In the spring of 2007, about 1.5 million, or 2.9 percent of all school-age children, were homeschooled in the United States – does the MENC Mission Statement include them?
MENC is neither "for" nor "against" homeschooling. Whether children receive their education in a public, private, or parochial school, or at home, music education remains a core subject, and MENC maintains that adequate music education resources should be available to all students. View MENC’s official position on homeschooling.
The MENC homeschool position states that homeschooling is not a music educator’s business, but music education is, regardless of where it takes place.
However, music educators disagree about the topic of homeschool students joining in the public school band program. Next week, several sides of the debate will be presented.
---Becky Spray, February 17, 2010. © MENC: The National Association for Music Education