单选题
Music in higher education: what is it worth?
A. Music has found itself increasingly central in the subject controversy surrounding higher education (HE). Recent data showed the total number of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service entries to study music rose by 3.5% in the 2013 cycle, following significant increases in applications for medical-related sciences, mathematical sciences, computer sciences, engineering and economics. Yet numbers of prospective higher education applicants who studied music A-level fell last year by 7%.
B. Many music educators speak of feeling
marginalized (边缘化), with their subject excluded from the
Ebacc (英国文凭考试) and noticeably absent from the Stem grouping (science, technology, engineering and maths)—absent too from the Russell Group's approved list of 'facilitating subjects' (ones that will 'keep a wide range of degree courses and career options open to you').
C. The value of studying music in higher education in the context of the economically-charged narrative on education provided the background to a recent roundtable discussion held at the Royal Academy of Music and involving senior figures from higher education, sixth-form education and the arts industry. All participants in the roundtable agreed that studying music at higher education equips students with a range of transferable skills that are of
inestimable (不可估量的) value in the workplace.
Music education and cultural value D. Contributing under the Chatham House rule, which allows comments to be reported freely, panel members began by disagreeing over the relationship between music education and cultural value. 'We are beginning to look at the question of music education from the other end of the telescope, not so much in terms of what happens during the period of education, but afterwards,' said one contributor.
E. One speaker argued that the relationship between music education .and cultural value was not necessarily a direct one. 'Many of those who add cultural value to the country do so because there is value here already. Our cultural value is increased by a critical mass coming from all over the world that wants to be part of our scene. 'The role musical education plays in cultural value, or to put it crudely, what we are producing in terms of the economy, is probably falling rather than increasing.' This comment was contested by another member of the panel, who cited the increasing numbers of foreign students studying music at UK institutions, and personal evidence from those who claimed that paying more to study in the UK was worth it for the extra value they gained from being educated here. Another pointed to the legally binding commitments made by government to promote musical participation in 2011-12 and, more recently, the National Plan for Music.
F. However, others around the table did acknowledge that UK institutions lacked the political backing enjoyed by their European peers or the financial power of America, 'only just paying the bills on the back of a British mess of fees, poor fund and a scratchy targeted portion of HE funding,' as one panellist put it.
Instrumental or natural? G. The discussion over what skills music graduates hold, both on academic or vocational courses, was noticeably more one-sided. High-end ability in collaboration, analysis, work ethic, sympathy, innovation and performing well under pressure were cited by numerous contributors as those that were compulsory in any decent music student. 'The qualities one would be after in a work-force suitable to meet the challenges of today's economy are all those found in a music graduate,' noted one commentator. 'We need to break up this myth that musicians are self-prevailing and just create more musicians,' added another—top city fro-as, accountancy organisations and computing companies as among those who favour music graduates as potential employees.
H. There was growing frustration among the panel concerning both the role of higher education institutions in promoting music and the continued justification of musical study from a non-musical perspective. 'It's time for music departments to wake up and promote more clearly their value and benefits,' said one contributor. 'The value of HE music itself has been clouded by the panic over school music. We don't sell music at HE by saying it will make you more literate, or better at maths. It has an inborn value.'
I. 'People in music know what highly skilled music students can do, and what music adds to the lives of people, but we keep saying society does not understand,' added another. 'Why? Either because we can't assert our own value, or because we refuse to engage with society.'
Education access J. Despite general consensus as to the inherent cultural-economic value of musical study, there was considerable discontent around the table about its accessibility. One speaker commented on the decreasing number of music students at top institutions coming from backgrounds other than 'music specialist schools, and private schools'. Another complained about the lack of focus from government regarding
ring-fenced (专项的) money for music
hubs (活动中心) beyond 2015, pointing out the risk of increased private outsourcing, uneven regional provision and, ultimately, a situation in which only those with financial advantage can access musical training to a standard that will enable them to pursue it to higher education.
K. In this context, the facilitating subjects of Russell Group universities came under harsh criticism from some commentators, who argued that there was disagreement over their significance among leading universities, misunderstanding by schools and
hijacking (劫持) by government in the latest round of league tables. This, two speakers agreed, was directing first generation students away from music at higher education by disconnecting the subject from a perspective on higher education dominated by tuition fees and employability.
L. A general note of warning was sounded by one about the upcoming loss of students from postgraduate study in the next five years as a result of financial pressures, and all agreed that higher education departments needed to do more to just utter the value of music in a public forum. 'We need to reconnect music with the world of ideas,' one panelist concluded. 'We can pull people into music through linking the ideas, science, film and literature that surround the context of musical creation. We must not fall back into isolation, but rather communicate the obvious value of music.'