Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage. Some words may be highlighted for your attention. Read carefully.

“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford, former President, United States of America

The necessity to include music education as a compulsory part of a school’s curriculum has long been a fiercely debated subject. While most school administrators are open to the idea of music being taught as an extra-curricular activity, there are very few who think of music as a necessary curricular subject. This is basically because school education has always been perceived as the study of the three R’s-Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, along with History and Science. But recent research in this area has proved that schools that include weekly music instrument lessons, choir rehearsals, voice training, or general music classes help their students reap a wide range of benefits in different areas, from improving learning to building self-esteem. 

It has long been noticed that children who study music do better at academics as well. A recent study from the University of California found that music helps develop brain function. Second graders who were given music lessons scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than those children who did not receive any musical instruction. Also, a 1998 study which was published in the science journal "Nature Neuroscience" reported that musical training enlarges the brain. In fact, the area of the brain related to analyzing pitches was 25 percent larger in musicians than non-musicians. Susan Hallam, from the Institute of Education at the University of London, feels that music should be given equal importance to subjects like English or Mathematics. This is what she says about the importance of making music a part of the school curriculum. "Music exerts a powerful impact on our lives and is as important for a well-rounded education as reading, writing, and maths. Learning to play an instrument has demonstrable effects on intelligence and, when children play music together, it teaches them about cooperation and working together.”