When I was in elementary school in the early-60’s, even we had a school orchestra (where I learned to read music, and played snare drum). Music was considered as much a part of a well-rounded education as were math, science, and history (as well as physical education). In my high school we had both a concert band and a marching band (the drummer of The Chocolate Watchband was in both. I would see him playing at the football game in the afternoon, and at the music club that night).
The best class I had in high school was my senior year Humanities, where we learned about art, music, architecture, and all the other non-career subjects, taught by what we all realized was a surprisingly (for the time) "out" gay man (he wore an ascot instead of a tie ;-). The summer after high school I had my first job, working at a furniture rental company. When it was time to leave for college, the blue collar employees asked me why I was going to college---for what job training is what they meant. When I answered to get an education, their response was blank stares, without another word uttered. I feared they thought I considered myself better than they, which was certainly not the case. They all had wives and children, a life I was not interested in.
Subsequent generations of Californians were not as fortunate as mine, for when Ronald Reagan was elected Governor one of his missives was to cut school funding for the Arts. Did you know Neil Young was a Reagan Democrat?