Following is an excerpt from Tim Russert's interview with former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) of Arkansas, who announced he is filing papers to launch an exploratory committee to run for President of the United States.
Significant were Mr. Huckabee's cogent remarks strongly supporting music and arts education in the public school curriculum. Mike Huckabee displays insight and enthusiasm for music and arts education, which is typically lacking in our public officials. Here is a position more educators and elected officials should adopt and emulate.
GOV. HUCKABEE: ". . . I love music. One of the things that I’m very passionate about is music and art and education because it was life-changing for me. I think in a creative economy we’ve got to have a whole group of kids coming up and a generation whose left and right brains are stimulated. It’s something I pushed for as a governor in Arkansas where we are one of the few states that required both music and art education. I’m a musician, I’m passionate about it, but I think this, this country has made a huge mistake in cutting music and art out of school budgets. And it’s something we’ve got to address because the future economy is dependent upon a creative generation."