I was privileged today to attend the holiday concert at Franklin Middle School to see one of my students perform in choir. I was prepared for the usual music making of young people. What I wasn't prepared for was the jolt of hope I received. These young people made some very impressive music and most of them seemed to really be enjoying themselves. (The few who didn't were trying really hard to seem bored.)
I realized that although things aren't ideal, they also aren't hopeless. All the desperate negativity I see on Facebook and in the traditional media regarding the education of our young people - despair I, myself, have passed on - just can't stand up to what I saw today. With professionals like Michael Helman and Anne Bailey in the trenches (not to mention the music professionals there with whom I'm not acquainted), there is still light and life being communicated to our kids. I applaud their courage, their stamina, and the sacrifices they make every day to keep the lower lights burning, sending a gleam of hope across the waves in the stormy seas of our time. Thanks to the Franklin Middle School for this little holiday miracle.
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