Contributions to Music Education Vol. 44 - Paul R. Lehman - A Music Educator’s First-Hand Account of the Struggle To Reform American Education

Oct 15, 2026

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 44, pp. 185-199, presents Paul R. Lehman’s first-hand reflections on the reform of American education. The article discusses nine major events, reports, and pieces of legislation that shaped U.S. K-12 education across 65 years, while extracting practical lessons learned from these efforts. It also argues for genuine educational reform and for strengthening music’s position in the school curriculum. It includes Lehman’s professional background and remarks adapted from 2018.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Contributions to Music Education

The Joy of Teaching

The Purpose of Education

Nine Major Events, Reports, and Pieces of Legislation

Contributions to Music Education Vol. 44, pp. 185-199. Paul r. lehMan University of Michigan A Music Educator’s First-Hand Account of the Struggle To Reform American Education (1953-2018) This article provides the author’s thoughts concerning nine major events, reports, and pieces of legislation that have shaped American education over the past 65 years . It also lists several lessons he has learned from these efforts . In addition, a number of proposals are offered for achieving genuine reform in education, and for strengthening the position of music in the school curriculum . Paul R . Lehman is a Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor . He served as president of the Music Educators National Conference, now the National Association for Music Education, from 1984 to 1986 . This piece is adapted from his remarks delivered on March 24, 2018, at the NAfME National In-Service Conference in Atlanta, Georgia . Some of these thoughts have been discussed by the author in earlier publications . Keywords: music, education, reform, history, policy Introduction When I began teaching as a high school band director in Ohio in 1953, I could never have imagined the stunning changes that were looming on the horizon for American education. Never have our schools been subjected to more intense and critical scrutiny than during the next few decades. In many ways K-12 education has been transformed profoundly during this period, but in other ways little has changed. I welcome the opportunity to share these personal views, and I hope that they might provide useful background for today’s readers of Contributions to Music Education, many of whom were not even born when some of these developments occurred. Contributions to Music Education The Joy of Teaching First, a word about teaching. I believe that teaching is the most important job in the world, apart from parenting, and also one of the most rewarding. I know that there are lots of jokes about teachers, and especially about university professors, and that’s all right. I like the story about the professor who dreamed that he was lecturing to his class and woke up and found that he was. And on one campus I visited I went into the men’s room and there was an automatic hand dryer above which was a hand-lettered sign that read,“For a 30-second lecture by Professor Smith, press this button.” I heard somewhere of a professor who was in the hospital for a minor operation. His department chair came to see him and told him that the department had met and “approved a resolution wishing him a prompt and complete recovery. The vote was 25 to 24.” And there was a professor who learned that a student in his class had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. He called the student in to suggest some individual study projects so that the student wouldn’t have to come to class. But the student said,“Oh, I particularly want to come to your class.” The professor replied,“Well, that’s very flattering. Why do you particularly want to come to my class?” And the student said,“When my time should come, I would like it to be during your class because during your class the transition from life to death will be scarcely perceptible.” But the truth is that teachers make a difference. They make a huge difference. Teachers change kids’ lives. And, through their students, teachers can change the world. That’s why there’s no job more important than teaching. In a perfect world, our best and brightest young people would all become teachers, and the rest would have to settle for something less. As for rewards, the greatest reward that comes to us as teachers is watching the success of our former students. And when our students become teachers themselves we can watch the success of our grandstudents—that is, the students of our students. Our influence as teachers never ends. Even when our students don’t become teachers they become parents, and they fill all sorts of other ro

FAQs

Why does Lehman say music matters in schools?

He links music instruction to key outcomes such as creativity, flexibility, discipline, and cooperative work. He argues that nothing in schools develops these skills better than music.

Oct 15, 2026

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