Pax Americana and the World of Music Education

by Estelle R. Jorgensen

It may seem ironic to speak of a Pax Americana at a time when the United States is prosecuting a war and its aftermath. Still, imperialism, or the desire to keep the peace on one's own terms, has led other nations into war when their will and power was frustrated and thwarted. My purpose in this essay is to raise four important and interrelated questions: What are the political tasks that hopeful music teachers, administrators, and those interested in their work need to undertake to pursue an ethically universalistic, democratic, and humane education? What are some guiding principles whereby music educators and policy-makers can navigate this territory? What are the conditions that would facilitate educational dialogue of the sort that is needed? How should music to be taught in order to achieve the intellectual objectives necessary in dialogical education? I view these questions from the limited musical perspective of the Western classical tradition—a misnomer since it is now an international tradition practiced around the world by people of many different languages, ethnicities, and cultures—and in the context of my position that this tradition merits transformation. This is a particularly interesting example since its roots originally are European, Eastern, and African, and it potentially subverts the predominant American popular musical culture of our time.