#ThursdayThoughts

Today I'm thinking about the necessity, the vitality of arts & music education. In the United States we have chosen to focus on incomplete education. We have elevated common core education and neglected arts and music education. This has ramifications that we are beginning to see with the later millennials and we have yet to see as this incomplete education continues. The current president of the United States has contributed to the problem by continuing to threaten cutting the funding to the National Endowment for the Arts (among other arts based organizations) which supports, in part, education in schools.

Diminishing the roles of art and music (and physical activity through P.E. classes) is a huge mistake for our nation and for the citizens of our nation. Check out these skills we learn from arts and music, seems like they would be pretty important to common core education...

The research showing the benefits of art and music education far outweigh any negatives critics can scrape up from the bottom of their crap barrels. (You could say I feel very strongly about this.) Check out just a few articles about the importance for each of us to have arts and music education:

The Importance of Art in Child Development

The Benefits of Music Education

Why I Support Art And Music Education In Schools

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April 5, 2015

The Feast of Firstfruits & Easter Go for Broke Day If it scares you this is the day to go for it no matter what. One Day Without Shoes Day Today is to raise global awareness for children’s health and education. Why shoes? Because shoes help protect from bacteria in the dirt, rusty nails, dirty needles and shoes enable feet to withstand the long distances most children in developing countries need to walk to get to school. Join TOMS One for One There is plenty of criticism out there for TOMS and its short term solutions. Critics don't even buy the "at least they are doing something" statement. However, you have to start somewhere. And every bit of awareness helps something go from short term to long term. We all have a part to play. Read a Road Map Day One of the many reasons I would stink at The Amazing Race is because I never did learn how to read a road map well. I remember doing worksheets and class lessons on maps and I was able to skate by ...

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

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