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This is ridiculous. As a former active student of the performing arts department, this article frightens me.

"Hearing the views of those who don’t view performance as part of the curriculum assessment, Mr. Scungio gave them another option.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have any performance classes in the district,” he said."

Have no performance classes in the district? In essence, we all take classes at the high school level to acquire a new skill or learn about something in more detail, in hopes of taking this knowledge and applying/using/PERFORMING the new skill in the "real world."

If you truely want to get rid of performances, I nominate that you get rid of testing requirements. Do students not have to perform well in order to pass those standardized tests that get your schools accredited? If you don't want a student to be focused on performing, it would only be fair to have these high standards tossed aside as easily as you would the funding for the music department.

I realize i'm using the word "perform" in a broad sense. However, learning to perform a piece of music on an instrument, performing a poem in front of your English class, or doing well on a math exam ALL fall into the general category of PERFORMANCE.

"Bob Arsenault, chairman of the Mt. Hope High School music department, said the rules do apply to music students.

“The football player is not getting any (academic) credit for it. They’re doing it because they like it,” Mr. Arsenault said. “The performance is a part of the curriculum. It’s an academic requirement that they participate.” "

Take it from me. I was the kid this article is talking about. I was always involved in the music department because it had some terrific teachers who honestly cared about their students, and would never turn them away when they needed help with something. I slacked off in my more traditional academic studies until my senior year. Often times, i was the kid being threatened by the Dean at the time (my good friend and town councilman Tony Tex) that i would have to miss performances for a failing grade.

Not that i particulary cared about the disciplinary action (as me and the Tony T were on a first name basis anyways,) but the idea of bringing down my ensembles (and yes, in turn my grades for those music CLASSES) was more than enough to motivate me to get my crap together. I made damn sure i corrected the grades, and made the performance.

I never agree with Bob Arsenault on pretty much anything, but his above quote is about as true as it gets. Children take music classes to learn a new skill. The test is performing that new skill. Granted, the performance (or test) happens in an auditiorium at 7pm on a Wednesday in front of an audience of friends and family... But i'd like to see some of these traditionally geared academic people perform under those circumstances. Just once.

The Mount Hope Music Dept. is THE reason i managed to get through highschool. It gave me confidence in myself and my abilities. It made me motivated enough to pass my classes so that i could perform and show the world some of the musical talents i developed.

If the football kids can't pass their classes to stay on the field, maybe they didn't give that much of a damn about football to begin with.

But the parents who engrained that sense of over-entitlement into their children's heads should really stop pointing fingers at everyone else and look within themselves for the answer to their parenting deficiencies.

Served.