Music is all around us, yet many of us don't understand it. A simple man with an office job that you pick randomly off the street could most likely tell you the basic rules of American football, yet that same man could never have played football in his life before. If you asked that same guy the basics of the music he's listening to, I bet you'd get a blank stare. My argument relates directly to schools, so many people may think that football is not technically taught in school, but what about subjects like biology or the countless other school subjects that a student learns, but never really needs to use later? What makes these topics different from music? Maybe even a better question: What makes music different from those subjects that are guaranteed not to be taught? Music is a very important part of our society and all students should have a basic understanding of it, just like subjects similar to science and mathematics. The current Michigan high school curriculum established by the Michigan government states that a student graduating from high school must have at least at least four credits of mathematics, four credits of English, three credits of science, three credits of social studies, one credit of physical education, one applied and performing arts credit, and two foreign language credits ("Michigan Department of Education"). Many people will say "there you go; you have credits in performing and applied arts, what more do you want? But the problem is that the definition of applied and performing arts is so broad that it might as well be undefined. Some of the classes included in this category are, for example, Home Economics and Shop of these are performing arts as there is no performance, only a product...... paper medium ...... inserted into school systems to improve the educational experience of students. Works Cited"American Media Services Index #8." American Media Services, 29 03 2009. Web. 9 April 2011. Bentham, John. "FOCUS ON BUDGET: Reverse Economics: Developing a Tax Case for Your music program." Supportmusic.com (2008): Web page no. April 10, 2011. Benward, Bruce. Eighth edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Chapter 10 HOW THE HUMAN BRAIN PROCESSES PARTS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE." (2005): n. page Web. 12 Apr 2011. Kalish, Nancy. "Why art makes children smarter."Parenting 20 6 2010: n. page Network. April 12, 2011. “Michigan Cirriculum of Merit.” Michigan Department of Education. Np, 2006. Web. April 9, 2011."Quick Facts." Music for everyone. Music for Everyone, Inc, 10 4 2011. Web. 10 April 2011.