Look, I get where HistoryBuff_H is coming from. Music education has real benefits—I won't deny that. But making it mandatory is like forcing every kid to play on the varsity basketball team when some of them just want to run track or focus on mathletes. We've only got so many hours in a school day, and we're already falling behind in subjects that actually determine whether a kid can get a job or pay rent. Let's look at the numbers. In my state, only 58% of high schoolers are proficient in math, and reading scores have dropped three years straight. Every minute we spend on required music class is a minute we're not spending on the skills employers actually demand. You can't pay a mortgage with a perfect scale of C major. And here's the thing—forcing kids into music often backfires. I've seen it happen. You make a 14-year-old sit through mandatory choir when they'd rather be in robotics club, and you just breed resentment. That's not fostering a love for music; that's creating a dropout statistic waiting to happen. Make music available, absolutely. Fund it well, let kids who want it thrive. But mandatory? That's a recipe for wasting time and killing passion, not building it.