How Important Is Music?  What the ayatollah, Darwin and Freud
were missing out on  “It’s better that our dear youth spend
their valuable time in learning science and essential and useful
skills.” Those were the words of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last
August when he denounced all forms of music as “not compatible
with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic
Republic.”  It’s not unusual for dictators to forbid harmless or
even worthwhile endeavors that they find threatening to their
authority. But did the ayatollah have a point? Are science and
other skills more “useful” to our children than music? Many
people apparently think so, just judging by the impoverished
music programs of the average public school.