So today, as I was going through my Facebook feed, this ad happened.


The ad in question is pretty much openly mocking music education, and as we all know, school music matters. We have the research to prove it. If you do not know the research, Music K-8 has actually compiled a whole bunch of peer-reviewed papers on the subject.

With the obvious disclaimer of "Music education is my job," this ad simply disgusts me. It shows the general ignorance of the people at TaxAct behind this kind of advertisement. It shows that music education is the apparent whipping boy both for businesses and for boards of education looking to cut something.

It took me the better part of a decade in my current school system to be able to have some degree of respect from the public at large for my chosen job. With every little item like this godawful advertisement, I and many other music teachers get sent back to square one. We get to rebuild yet again, because someone decided to be "cute and clever" and make music education the whipping boy again.

I am personally condemning this ad from TaxAct. I will not use TaxAct's services ever again. I have already sent multiple inquiries to them over this ad that ridicules music education. The ball is, right now, in their court.

Retract the ad and issue an apology to all music teachers.