Imagine a world without music. For many people, music drives them. Some people need music to get through the day, or maybe just to make a long car ride seem a little shorter. Music is a way to express and evoke emotions. It is used in religious services, films and parties. We use music to start sporting events and to congratulate Olympic medal winners. Music is everywhere and everyone should be given the opportunity to learn how to create it. Unfortunately, the United States does not agree. Music education in schools is decreasing. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, from 1992 to 2008, the number of kids taking music education classes decreased by 21%. (Room 1). Schools cut the arts because they want to improve education, but if they really wanted to improve education, they would do the opposite. Music education should be maintained in school because it benefits children with skills that cannot be taught through conventional means. Often, all we hear about music is that it's "powerful" or "soulful," and while these words are complementary, legislators and administrators don't want such embellished discourse. Instead they want facts and numbers. So why not give it to him? Music majors are the most likely group of graduates to be admitted to medical school (NAMM). According to the report, music majors have an acceptance rate of 66%, compared to biochemistry majors with an acceptance rate of 44%. The US Department of Education shows that students exposed to music education had significantly higher math scores (Catterall). According to the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal Study, high school music students were shown to have higher grade point averages than non-musicians at the same school. These are just the... middle of the paper... advertisement. To tell a story or to escape into the safety of our mind. There is less scientific evidence to support the claim that assigning reading from The Great Gatsby will make us smarter, however I doubt there will come a day when schools stop offering literature (Madden). Schools spend large sums of money on reading material. Now imagine if we put the same emphasis on making people musically literate. Think about the benefits and how much better off our students would be. There is a reason why in the top three countries in the world – Japan, the Netherlands and Hungary – music education is compulsory (Madden). These three countries have learned the importance of music education and with this knowledge create some of the best performing schools in the world. The United States has tremendous untapped potential, and the key to unlocking this potential is music education.