100 Village Primary School Music Classrooms

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Ⅰ. Background of the Program

The lack of music education has a negative effect on children, especially those in the primary grades. These children are affected in both mind and body. Furthermore, the unavailability of music education for children in the primary grades in village schools reflects the growing disparity between urban and rural areas in China. The policy of the Chinese government is to promote “Social Harmony” throughout China by promoting educational, economic and social development in rural areas where there is a large and growing disparity as compared to Eastern China. This lack of equal opportunity affects the development of the entire country.

The Chinese government has invested money and other resources for long distance study using the Internet as one means of redressing this disparity. Music education, however, is not one of the subjects included in this effort. Thus at present there is no program or means available to provide music education to children in the primary grades in village schools in rural China.

Ⅱ. Goals and Objectives

It is proposed to develop a new method for redressing the problem of lack of music education for children in rural village schools. This is an innovative program that will create a new model for the study of music in rural areas of China. Since 1998 the Ministry of Education in China has developed a number of CDs with songs that are appropriate for children. This program will utilize this existing resource in music education to develop a model music education program utilizing computers and providing training to teachers in village schools. Thus an “electronic classroom” will be created. 

 

The primary goals of this program are as follows:

1.      Develop a model program using computers and music CDs to substitute for music teachers in schools that do not have such teachers.

3.      Improve the physical and mental well-being of children in primary grades through music education.

 

The specific measurable objectives are:

1.      Select 100 schools in rural areas in three sections of China to participate in the program.

3.      Utilize provincial music experts to select songs and train village school teachers in how to use the material

4.      Improve the mental and social well being of children in such schools as measured by a pre and post program assessment.

Ⅲ. Target Population

This project will be undertaken in three regions of China according to the following plan:

1 Eastern China—Jiang Su or Zhejiang province—10 schools

3 Western China—Guizhou or Gan Su province—60 schools

Each of these sections represents a different level of development, with Eastern China being the most developed and Western China the least. The target group are children in village schools in the primary grades, that is to say grades one through six. A total of 20,000 to 30,000 students will be included in the project. Ultimately the program will be available to all children in the primary grades in rural China.

Ⅳ. Project Activities

The first activity in this project will be to select the project staff which will consist of experts in music and rural education.  In each province there is a teaching research office with one person who is a specialist in music education. The project staff will work with this person to select the schools for the project in each area as well as the songs to be included in the program in that area.  Each of the village schools has a science teacher who has some knowledge of computers and a teacher for teaching various aspects of culture. These two teachers can assist the students to learn music through this model. The provincial music expert will train these two teachers in the use of the program and project staff will follow up with periodic visits to be sure the program is being implemented according to plan.