Teach music in schools

Khalaf Al-Harbi
Okaz newspaper

 

WHEN the deputy minister of education talked about introducing music classes in schools, he was criticized by many.

I believe the Ministry of Education will make one of the biggest mistakes in its history if it does not introduce such classes in schools. All over the world, schools teach music to students, except in Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to believe that those schools are wrong and we are right.

I know that I will receive an avalanche of criticisms from the majority of people who will read my article because I believe music is an indispensable science for human beings.

But it brings me solace that 99 percent of readers who attack me now have played a major role in making Arabic satellite channels that air music clips popular. Today, the music market in our country is one of the largest in the Middle East, thanks to those readers.

They go around criticizing anyone who talks about music while their cell phones have musical ringtones. Even those who are deeply religious have ringtones that sound like music but they convince themselves otherwise.

Whether we like it or not, music is a necessity.

Al-Jazirah newspaper carried a report recently saying the Kingdom is one of the countries around the world that use cell phones the most. The report also said young people spend 56 percent of their free time watching TV.

Now let’s talk about something else. When will public and private hospitals stop committing medical errors? Thousands of innocent people have lost their lives or become disabled due to such errors. We hear about tragic errors while the Ministry of Health stands around doing nothing. Numerous private hospitals and polyclinics do not have any respect for human beings and keep committing medical errors, knowing that they will get away with it.