Should American music teachers be experts in American folk and jazz music?

Should music teachers be experts in American folk and jazz music in our public schools?


            I believe that school music teachers should have some level of expertise in both American folk music and jazz. I believe that for many musicians myself included it would be difficult for us to start studying folk and jazz and achieve a true expert level of knowledge. At this point in my musical career I could write a book about opera, art song or even a general music book about western classical music without it being a multiyear process. I have already laid the groundwork in those areas of music such that writing a book would merely mean fact checking and organizing information. I can say this because I have been studying these areas of music since I was in elementary school so for a good 3 decades. In order for me to be able to write a book about American folk music or jazz I would need to repeat this process for the same amount of time.
           The study of music takes time. It takes time to listen to, sometimes hours listening to the same piece of music, countless hours of reading, talking to experts and trying to perform sections of the song or similar songs by the same artist to really get a sense of a genre. The kind of training that I have had has occurred along with my growing into adulthood. It has been interwoven with how may developing brain has been organized. I appreciate the subtly of classical music more than I do the broad strokes of folk music and mathematical structures associated with the improvisation in  jazz. 
            For me to try to become a true expert on American folk and jazz music would be a disservice to myself and my students. Should the only music teachers working in the public schools be Berkeley graduates? -I think not. For as there are those students whose minds will be lit on fire with the music of jazz and American folk music so there are those who will gravitate towards classical music, world music and other musical art forms.
           Should I have some level of expertise that goes beyond what an especially gifted high school student can learn on their own? Yes, yes I should. As a teacher, I need to try to meet the needs of all my students. This is especially necessary with American folk and jazz music as they are truly American art forms. It is both necessary for me to have expertise in these areas to continue our American cultural heritage but also to help students who are drawn to the musics of their ancestors.

           As a teacher of general music in the schools I am the best living link to all musical art forms and our American cultural past through music. It is important for me to be an expert in these fields such that I can teach them to generations of students-especially those that are the most gifted and willing to go beyond the general music curriculum. Such students are likely to be the cultural curators, teachers and performers of the next generation.