By Justin Bickett, Underwood Secondary, Underwood, MN

When I say the word “boring” what do you think? It could be many things, such as the news or sitting at home doing nothing. When you feel boredom, it is natural that we try to find something to replace the boredom. For most high school students, sitting in class doing homework is pretty boring. We have to do homework, but when we are bored we tend to lose focus and zone out instead. To prevent us from zoning out, we need something to help us focus. One of the most popular ways to do this is to listen to music.

Over the years more, and more people I know listen to music daily. We listen to music when we are in the car, on our free time, and whenever we can. People even listen to music when they work at their jobs, if its okay with the boss’ rules. Why is this? The reason for this is because music relaxes the mind and body which allows people to feel at ease.

However, there are people who abuse the power of music and slack in what they do. When is the most appropriate time to listen to music must also be included as well. For us students, it would most likely be when we are working on homework in class. I did a survey in Underwood High School consisting of five teachers. Each teacher taught a different class. The five people were Mr. Olson, who teaches history, Mrs. Christianson, teaches English, Mrs. Holtberg, teaches art, Mr. Ross,teaches Environmental science, and Mr. Tiffany, teaches Chemistry. After the survey was done, three out of five teachers said it was okay to listen to music while doing homework.

Now don’t get me wrong, each class is different, and some may have more right to listen to music, but most of the time, each class has an opportunity to listen to music while working. When I interviewed each teacher, they were all mainly concerned about one thing, distractions. Music can be distracting if you abuse it. Mr. Tiffany stated, “For most students, listening to music starts out as a right, but people tend to abuse the right and making their grades suffer.” This is very true for those who choose to abuse the power of music. Overall, the right to listen to music depends on three factors; the student, the teacher, and the ability for the student to focus. Each student is different and we focus differently. Maybe listening to music is what students need to succeed in high school.