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wsma board perspective


ability in other areas. When a student is a performing member of a group, whether a small ensemble or a large concert band or chorus, there is a personal connection or harmony achieved that goes beyond the musical. It is the essence of team spirit.


The third A, athletics, encompasses health, physical education, recreation, fitness, team and individual sports, both intramural and interscholastic. Gone are the days of sand lot baseball games, ice skating at the local pond until your toes went numb, Red Rover, tag and touch football. In a society with overwhelm- ingly high obesity and escalating rates of obesity-related illnesses, we must provide our children alternatives to the television, video-gaming, computer/Internet, couch- potato lifestyle now in place.


Recognizing the need for fitness is not new. Circa 450 B.C. Hippocrates observed, “If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” There is no other public institution better equipped to provide the necessary leadership for this initiative than our public schools.


As school districts come to understand and adopt the three As, they will develop programs with an appropriate balance of academics, arts and athletics that are offered at times students can best learn. The out-dated concept of “extra-curricu- lar” activities will disappear. Any planned, sequential program offered by a school district is “curricular” no matter what times of day, week or year it is offered. The incorrect attitude that “after school” activities are somehow less valuable than “during school” activities will become obsolete.


If you support this idea, I urge you to do so completely. As fervent advocates of music and the arts, you have no equal. All three merit your continued and passionate endorsement. We can envision and strive to develop school districts where academ- ics, arts and athletics are equal in value and importance. Our graduates will be more literate, more versed in the arts and


Wisconsin School Musician 9


“…each of the As is an equally valuable leg of the three-legged stool called a


complete education.”


century where creativity can reign and all children can learn.


more physically fit. They will be prepared for happier, healthier and more satisfying lives. Yours will be a district designed for the 21st


Robert Hanson is WSMA president and a current member of the WSMA Board of Directors. Email: robertahanson@verizon.net


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