week 6

What does it mean to be academic? A fellow classmate's blog from last Friday raised this question for me. I quote his blog: "But should a dance major or basketball major graduate with the same degree as all of these difficult academic majors?" Previous to this statement, Mr. Blogger included music in the same line as dance and basketball, though he did not specify what "these difficult academic majors" includes. I believe he is saying music and dance are not academic majors. Huh, interesting. Let's analyze this a bit...According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, "academic" is defined as:

Main Entry: ²academic

Variant(s): also ac·a·dem·i·cal \-mi-kəl\

Function: adjective

Date: 1588

1 a : of, relating to, or associated with an academy or school especially of higher learning b : of or relating to performance in academic courses c : very learned but inexperienced in practical matters d : based on formal study especially at an institution of higher learning
2 : of or relating to literary or artistic rather than technical or professional studies
— ac·a·dem·i·cal·ly \-mi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/academic)

Now I will admit that I do not know anything about the dance major at Luther College or anything about basketball (imaginary major), but I personally know what is entailed in a music major at Luther. Therefore, I will consolidate my argument to music as it is what I know. According to the definition above, I do not see how music is not an "academic major."

1) Music is taught at a school of higher learning (1a, 1d). It is an accredited subject and quite frankly, it is a difficult one. Typically what non-music majors think is that music majors just play instruments listen to music all day, learn notes and musical terms, and learn to improve our ability to perform on our instruments. While this is true, this is only the surface level. Music challenges the mind, body, and spirit, and it takes endless hours studying, listening, playing, exploring, practicing, etc to understand and overcome these challenges. (I apologize for beginning to rant, but it helps to have at least a shallow understanding of being a music major)

2) Music majors are constantly performing, both intellectually and physically (1b). Playing on instruments is an everyday event, and must be done everyday if one has hopes to improve. Also, composing and improvising challenges one intellectually as these activities involve much thought and analysis of musical ideas.

3) Learning a subject without practical experience occurs in all majors, including music (1c). This is the point of college right? We learn in order to leave college to apply our knowledge in practical experiences.

4) The second definition speaks for itself when it says relating to the artistic (2). Music is an art form and fits into the realm of the artistic.

So my point in all of this is that music is an academic major, NOT just a major done out of pure interest or as a hobby. My analysis of music through this definition of "academic" can be applied to many other subject areas. We, as future educators, need to be careful in what we label as "academic" or "non-academic" because if we mislabel a subject area, it may not be taught in schools and students would be deprived of an academic experience. Since students have different learning styles and interests, it is important that we provide them with every possible learning opportunity.

My hope with this entry is to dismantle the idea that music is not an academic subject and to challenge everyone to have an understanding of what "academic" means before designating majors as "academic" or "non-academic."