With the world turning inside out, there’s a daily sinking feeling at the pit my stomach; that no matter what, our future is doomed to collapse with everything else around it.
And it’s okay to believe that, I guess. To let go of the reins and let it all fall where it falls.
Because it’s just easier.
Every now and then though, we get our chances to do better, to be better, towards our fellow human beings… it’s just a matter of jumping on that train and doing something about it.
Today I came across a CBC story about a group of high school students here in Victoria who are doing everything they can to save their school’s music programs, which have just been given a $250,000 cut by the Greater Victoria School District (SD61).
As per the CBC article, “to address a $1.6-million deficit, the Greater Victoria School District’s budget proposal includes cuts to career guidance, counselling services — and middle-school music ensembles such as choir and jazz band.”
This just hit… a little too close to my heart, rattling loose memories from a period in my life where being in a band and playing music wasn’t just a pastime… it was a means of survival.
When I was in Grade 7 in Toronto, I was a troubled kid. Having been in Canada for only three years by that point, I was having a really tough time integrating into Canadian society. I spoke English fairly well by then, but was still struggling to fully understand the slang, customs and mannerisms of my peers, who were either fully “Canadianized” or were far more slick in adapting to the norms.
I ended up getting bullied a lot as a result, by both students and teachers alike. I had no friends. I spent more time outside the classroom rather than inside because I was permanently marked as a troubled student. Unfortunately at the time, understanding of students’ mental health and neurodivergence was fairly low, far lower than it is now, so support was essentially non-existent.
But then came a light through all this darkness and confusion: music class. I remember very fondly entering the studio/classroom for the first time and seeing musical instruments everywhere, with a notable smell of machine oil in the air. As I sat down, I saw another kid pull a trumpet out of its carrying case; I had never seen anything like it; its shiny brass immediately hooked my curiosity, something that absolutely nothing else had done so before in my entire school attendance so far. When I was asked what I wanted to play, I immediately and excitedly yelled out “TRUMPET!” much to the laughter of my colleagues around me. Needless to say, I was lucky enough to be assigned a trumpet.
We were then given the option to take our instruments home… WHAT!? I couldn’t contain myself with joy. The reception I got from my parents when I showed up with a trumpet at home was of confusion and slight disapproval, but that still wasn’t enough to dampen my spark.
Music is a means to connect, to feel normal and feel like you belong. It’s what anyone in this world wants
Months later, I moved onto tenor saxophone, and joined the school band. It was the first time in my life I actually felt like a normal student, surrounded by a community of people who liked the same thing. The challenges in other parts of my school life continued, but there was at least something to look forward to when going to school, other than being yelled at by teachers and getting chased around by bullies.
To borrow the quote from the CBC story… music programs can be a lifeline for students. And just as it was for me more than 20 years ago, it is for many other students out there who benefit from these programs the same way I did – as a means to connect… to belong… to feel normal and wanted. It’s what any kid – and any person on this earth – wants.
I mean, to be on a stage, performing songs through your favourite instrument in front of others… there’s nothing like it. As an adult, I still dream of maybe returning one day to that stage, in some shape or form. I even have my tenor sax to this day.
But this isn’t about me. This is about the future. About doing something good in this world for others.
These cuts threaten to take away that experience and support from the next generation. And it’s not just music either. The cuts include career guidance and counselling services, which are vital tools for the average student to maintain success and have a goal in their life. They’re critical in helping them cope with a difficult and changing world around them, understanding the challenges that we as adults even struggle with. In the mind of the average bureaucrat or accountant, cutting these services are logical on paper, because they’re not seen as essential; it’s not like cutting math or phys-ed or science class, which I’m sure everyone would be up in arms about.
Those are important too, but I would argue that a student’s mental wellbeing and career path are far more important in the long-term of their life than basic subjects, because without support and guidance, kids are otherwise left to the merciless centrifugal forces of maturing into adulthood; some make it, others do not. I can’t tell you how many math geniuses in my high school math classes ended up in jail or are dead because there was nothing and no one there to support them or guide them.
Things need to be better than this.
We need to think about those who will take over this world, imperfect as it is, after we are long gone. What is $250,000 in a world where a single missile that shreds through an entire apartment complex costs $3 million? What is $1.6 million of a school district budget when a minigun burns through hundreds of thousands of dollars of ammunition per minute as we speak?
It seems somewhere along the way we’ve lost sight of what’s really important in life; where killing and winning is the sole driver of our species.
We can’t seem to do anything about what our neighbours down south are doing overseas. We can’t even control what our own politicians here at home are doing, who managed to accumulate a $14 billion deficit that sank this province deeper into despair and misery.
But again, there’s no point thinking about things we can’t control, only the things we can. For the kids of Mount Douglas Secondary, and countless others like them, we need to do better.
So far, the students have raised an extraordinary $33,000 of the $250,000 needed to keep these programs around all of SD61, but of course, it’s a long way to go. If you would like to help their cause, you can visit here.
Special thanks to Jeff Zhang and Mount Doug Secondary for providing me with additional info on the fundraiser.
After all, it may just be the most important – if not only – lifeline to some young mind out there.
octaviauto.com 