Why don't kids nowadays know about Jazz and classi

Just make sure they stay AWAY from rap, for starters.

Short answer: State and federal funding for the arts in school is drying up. My daughters school is barely surviving with its music program.

Though it's a public school, it relies heavily on fundraisers and donations from the parents, as the state funding is starting to dwindle.

Honestly, you cannot make a child appreciate higher or refined levels of music unless it starts in the home. At least when I play "Swan Lake", my daughter starts playing around and fakes ballet moves she saw at the Nutcracker.

My 2-year old son "gooves" to KOB, when it starts. He digs the separation of instruments playing "Way Out West" Sonny Rollins.

Start them young in the home ....

Blame it on MTV.

As a long time teacher, I can tell you it's the same reason that many students don't know good literature (I'm not even talking about "great literature" here}. Many "Curriculum specialists" and "school of education professors" adhere to the philosophy that content is no longer that important--that a student can learn as much from reading a Hillary Duff type book as he/she can from "a better class of literature". The important thing "they" say is that the kids read--not what they read. I also see this in young teachers just entering the profession. Many of them are ignorant of the content that many of the people of my generation were taught. This includes all fields--science, math, social studies, etc. I am no high brow, but I am constantly amazed by what some of the younger teachers can't discuss even semi-intelligently. I know that I am more knowledgeable now than I was 30 years ago, but the difference I see was that I was at least interested in learning about my subject. Younger teachers seem to have been taught alot of methodology at the expense of content.

Papertrail makes a good argument for continual testing of teachers to keep them honest. We need a lot more history, literature, sciences (biology, chemistry, astronomy, geography), mathematics, and english grammar and composition. Teach the kis how to diagram sentences.

And stop teaching them about lifestyles and sex; let 'em pick it up on the street. More fun.