In recent years, traditional means of education have been challenged. 

The rise of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT has created an epidemic of cheating on written assignments throughout the education system, leading many people to ask the question, what does this mean for the future of employment? 

While this upheaval of conventional education may be alarming, it is not a harbinger of disaster. Rather, it should be seen as a wake-up call to think critically about how we approach education. 

As menial jobs are increasingly lost to automation, the future of today’s youth is dependent on their ability to solve complex problems and think critically. There is no better way to exercise these skills in schools than through the creative and performing arts.

During my formative years I grew up in a very musical community, where I was instilled with a passion for jazz music. Unlike classical music, which is usually pre-arranged and pre-planned, jazz is an active, participatory art form in which music is shaped in real time. It centers around finding a creative idea, building on it, and sharing it with other musicians.

When I came to La Mesa my sophomore year, I brought with me the lessons I learned from my exposure to jazz music. My new school lacked a well-established jazz program, but I instantly found a group of friends who had an interest in the genre, and eventually our casual rehearsals evolved into a real band. 

Many of my friends saw jazz as intimidating due to its improvisational nature, but through a continued group effort our school jazz band began to develop these skills which I had spent years acquiring. Through exercising these skills, I saw how much they impact other aspects of my life. In school projects and clubs, I learned that I am more comfortable innovating creative solutions to problems, taking calculated risks, and sharing my ideas with others.

While algorithms may be able to steal others’ work and scramble it so effectively that it can’t be recognized as plagiarism, they won’t be able to innovate any time soon. Conventional schooling places such a heavy emphasis on rules and formulas that the skills which will truly matter in the future job market—innovation and creativity—are allowed to atrophy in children’s minds. That’s not to say the skills which conventional classes teach aren’t real and important, but they are only one piece of the puzzle. 

Recently, there has been a popular sentiment that arts don’t matter in schools, and funds would be better spent on core classes. This belief could not be more misguided. So many students get caught up in the rigid competitiveness of the modern education system that they forget why school really matters. English keeps innocent people out of jail, chemistry makes life-saving medicine, and calculus sends people to the moon and beyond. 

All of the greatest innovations in these fields came not from the people with the highest test scores, but from people who could see the world differently. 

This is what school is for, and the moment we forget that, all of its value is lost.

Editor’s note: This piece was written by Declan Ewbank, a student at Grossmont High School.

Top photo credit: Pixabay.com