As the final assignment for the Foundations of Music Education class as part of the MME program at UF, I read an article about an increasing problem within our society; the growing trend of children being born to unwed parents, and often not having a father at all as a result. This leads to students often not receiving the guidance that they require in their formative years that would help lead them towards becoming not just good students, but productive members of society. The point of reading this article was not to comment on the validity of this perception one way or another, but to come up with ways that both schools, or more specifically music teachers, and communities can try to rectify or at least improve this situation.
Music teachers may be uniquely suited to help in this area, as many often spend more time with individual students over the course of years than other teachers do. This provides many opportunities that while connecting with students can yield chances to address this issue in a comfortable, relaxed, and trusting setting. If I were to use myself as an example, as a teacher I could easily provide anecdotes about my own life experiences regarding this situation. After already establishing a connection with students, casually telling high school level students about a time during college that I feared that my girlfriend (now wife) might be pregnant, and the very stressful time of uncertainty until we discovered she was not, would not be completely out of the question. It could both help to humanize me in the eyes of my students, but also drive the point home, that it could happen to anyone who is not careful. We were lucky, but others are not. Telling them about all the thoughts of "what ifs" and how we knew it could have impacted our future, in mostly negative ways, would give the students an opportunity to relate this problem of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy to someone they know, making it more "real" in their eyes.
Another way any music teacher could approach this problem, and possibly help alleviate its rise through educational means, could be to design a curricular unit on the way music creates and establishes sexual stereotypes and desensitizes certain demographics towards concepts like sexual promiscuity. It could begin more generalized, as in discussion on how music can affect people's feelings, gradually steering students towards the focus on if and how the music industry tries to capitalize on this ability, eventually leading to the concept of sexualization depicted in both lyrics and visually through music videos. Many approaches could be taken in a unit like this from simple discussion, to papers or projects.
As for local communities, some already try to deal with this issue, sending out local girls (possibly from a neighboring high school) who have dealt with unwanted pregnancies at young ages to speak at assemblies at schools, providing mandatory sex ed classes to educate students on the process of how pregnancies can happen (it is much easier than some students believe) to how to prevent such an occurrence safely (which fortunately also helps teach the same students about the realities of STDs and their prevention). I remember that growing up that my community had commercials on TV that addressed this issue, though the focus of these commercials often shifts now according to the popular "problem" of the day. The prevalence of condoms available in bathrooms (men's and women's) of local communities and sometimes even being handed out in schools by certain activist organizations is also a touchy, but viable solution. Though some argue that this just helps tells children that it is o.k., this tactic is unlikely to want to be used unless the community (or neighboring communities that in turn spark action nearby) is already experiencing a problem. So many people misconstrue educational awareness with moral acceptance, when they do not need to be connected in that way at all. Trying to tackle a symptom of a problem (pregnancies to unwed individuals) in a way that is likely to attract the best positive reaction and therefore positive result does not mean society at large must believe that the issue at hand (young adults/children engaging in sex before marriage, unprotected while also lacking proper forethought of possible consequences) is not also a problem that should be addressed.
Honestly though, how many adults could take preventative action with children engaging in questionable social engagement with each other in public? If local communities could band together to feel comfortable "calling people out" in public on moral issues that concern them, without the fear of having a whole slew of accusations thrown at them like "You're not their parent," or "What gives you the right to judge someone else's choices?" than I believe change could and would be enacted much more quickly. A comparison I could make to my life in the Army would be this. I am allowed to publicly address any concern I have with any Soldier of lessor rank than myself if I believe they are in violation of a regulation, to include anything from the way they are dressed in uniform or civilian clothes, to the way they are acting towards others. The Army even has "Courtesy Patrols" (CPs) on post positioned in high traffic areas like food courts, stores, and even just walking around family housing areas to monitor concerns like this. The CPs or myself can question the individual, and get contact information for their superiors if they believe the issue needs to be addressed at a higher level. What if normal community members felt they could walk up to a young adolescent couple engaging in lewd public displays of affection (heavy make-out sessions in a park) and have the right to get the phone number for their parents if they think the situation requires it based on a moral code established by a community? I know this is opening countless legal and ethical questions, and I fully realize this is a pipe dream, but with society being so disconnected from each other that they fail to act even when they see someone being beaten, it is not surprising that in cases of much less danger and importance to their personal lives that most people look the other way when confronted by a moral issue right in front of them.
Ultimately, this is why I think individuals, teachers, and music teachers in particular, have the ability that society does not when it comes to trying to improve this situation, because it can be done in such a way as to be acceptable, and often not even intrusive.
As always, this was an insightful and provocative prompt to explore and finish off this class in style.
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