Lockstep education is the norm. By that, I mean this mindset: if you were born within these 12 months, you’re in this grade.
For the first 10 to 20 years of life, we are fed, over and over again, that our peers are those who were born in the same 12-month window as us.
This is, of course, nonsense – as we soon discover as we enter the working world and find that our peers have wide ranging ages. I have peers who retired today, and peers I haven’t even yet because they just entered the field of music education this year. This would be inconceivable to the K-12 student who believes the mindset of lockstep education.
But there is a way forward, and that is a much more customized, personalized approach to educational advancement.
Not surprisingly, this is something that music educators already have a handle on.
You are ready for the choirs I direct when you achieve competence in my audition. That has nothing to do with your age, and I routinely have student from all four high school grades.
You don’t move into a more elite choir because of your age, but because you have become a peer of the other members. Whether you’re older or younger, your peerage is built on more important commonalities than a birth window.
Surely we can do a better job of preparing our student for the reality of age-blind connection, and, just as surely, music educators are already leading the way.