Opinion: The musical gift Los Angeles offers public school kids

It came as a surprise to me that Los Angeles is one of the last big cities in the U.S. to provide public school students with free musical instruments. We’re a bastion of music education compared with most of the country, where participation in the arts largely depends on whether your parents can pay for it. Despite all the studies that show that students engaged in the arts are not only more likely to excel academically but also to develop creativity, confidence and collaboration, getting funding for arts education has been an uphill battle.

Amid a global pandemic and a mental health crisis, there is the legitimate worry that we are raising a “lost generation.” Is music the answer? We know that schools with music programs have higher attendance rates than schools without, and a substantially higher graduation rate compared with nonmusical schools. Studies have shown that students who start music education before the age of 8 are more hopeful about the future. High school students taking music courses score significantly higher in math and science than their nonmusical peers. Students in lower-income communities with music education score higher on standardized tests.

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