Oh, I gots more where that came from.
Same argument applies to art and music.
The marketplace spends hundreds of billions of dollars on art and music, there is art and music everywhere, ad copy, commercials, marketing, video games, movies, webpages, everything has an art and music component. So the argument of getting rid of Art and Music programs in schools and treating them like frivolous subjects is a HUGE mistake. You have effectively removed your students from a hundred BILLION dollar pool of Commerce.
On the other hand, how much money is Johnny going to make knowing the history of the Roman Empire? If Johnny knows how to play the Sax because of grade school, Jr high, and High school band, Johnny can actually make money playing in bars, street corners, etc and at the very least feed himself. Same can't be said with him spouting off facts about the Roman Empire...
So yeah, imo, when thinking about "the children" and what is best for them, we should focus on Commerce. Follow the money. How is this subject going to help Johnny get a job and feed his family? Everything we teach needs to be able to somehow answer that question. In this case, like I said above, X'mas and Thanksgiving make up 60% of sales for many industries, so 'nuff said. Celebrate them and educate your students about them...
