<<      I agree with the statement. I also think that junior high school student should be required to learn music and art. In fact in my country, all children between age of 13 and 15 are required to attend public or private junior high school and study music and art. Of course educational or cultural officers in my country don't expect them to be professional artists or musicians. The officers offer a chance to learn variety of subjects. Without a formal education most children can not have a chance to do such creative activities. In my country, most parents want their children to do well in their school activities. Perhaps most parents want their children to do well in science and linguistics than music and arts. This is because such practical subjects as science and linguistics will lead to their stable jobs in the future. I admit that. However much children do well in music and art, such activities don't directly lead to their stable life in the future. So it is natural for their parents to hope them to study science and linguistics. Yet, I think children should be required to learn art and music in secondary school. I will explain the reason in the following paragraphs.      You may think that art is a practical thing. That is, without art we can live in this society. Of course if you pursue a practical life, art might seem to be an unpractical thing. But if you look carefully, you can notice that we use art in practical way in our daily lives. For example, when we learn medicine, we usually need some scheme of human bodies or some parts of a body. Of course, if you can take a good photos of human parts such as a heart, a lung, and a liver. But in case we discuss phenomenons at a molecular level, we need some schematic pictures of hypotheses. If some competent artists draw the scheme for us, we appreciate the work very much.      At the same time, we need music in our daily lives. I can't say why music is needed in our daily lives. That is, I can not think an example of ways how music is used practically. But imagine that you live without music, you can't hear your favorite music in your room, or you can't drive a car without listening your favorite music. I can't imagine such a stoic life. I want enjoy my life with listening my favorite musics.      In conclusion, I think students should required to learn music and art in secondary school. This is because, we, ourselves need music and art in our daily lives. Since we have our own jobs in our daily lives, we can't have time to create such art works by ourselves. We need professional works instead. If all students are required to learn such subjects in junior high school, some of them may notice their talent and do well art works in the future. So I think a chance to learn art and music should be given to all students formally.