I didn’t contribute to this poll, but it seems that my thoughts were well-represented regardless. While I agree with the majority of the common themes, I have a problem with the following:

No educational value presented.

Granted, the poll is about all television shows that feature singing, & I could definitely see that statement being applied to American Idol, but is this really the case in Glee?

I would argue no, personally, at least not in any explicit “this is what the students are learning, musically” kind of way. We may never actually see it explicitly depicted and a lot of situations are pretty contrived, but the suspension of disbelief required to believe that the characters can do all that they musically do without us actually seeing it kind of necessitates the belief that these students are really learning something. There’s definitely been a visible pattern of growth that’s been depicted in the show. I personally find that to be a positive depiction of learning, regardless of whether it’s explicit or not and based on art music or not.

Perhaps I’ve become more optimistic, seeing as previously I described the show’s content as the following:

We never see the students working for their accomplishments; instead, their educational process can often be described as instant gratification.

I still think it can be described that way. However, in the context of the overall plot, especially when comparing the ensemble and its capabilities in the first episode and last, there’s clearly some sort of musical progress that has been taken place.

Finally, I just really enjoyed this comment:

To keep these students interested, it’s important to choose repertoire that caters to their interests. I always try to arrange or order some popular music for the students to sing at the end of the year concert. This is one of the main reasons I have so many students involved or seeking to join the following year.

As always, I am all about the inclusion of popular music in the classroom.

Overall, I think this is a really important topic to pursue because it’s what our students are being exposed to. It does affect the way they think about music. It might even lead to creating a stronger differentiation between “school music” and “my music,” which is certainly not what we want, if not addressed properly by the music educator.