What do Shakespeare, actors, newspapers, jazz, and communism all have in common? Continue reading this article to discover how one Challenge III class threaded these disparate ideas together.

Last week in my Challenge III class, we had some spontaneous moments for subject integration. We began the morning talking about the role of jazz during the Cold War. The students were surprised to read this in their history text. They were further astounded when I revealed that rock music played a large role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. From the rise of communism to its fall, there was an ongoing connection to music.

We started with the simple question, "What in the world could jazz music have to do with politics?" The students looked at me somewhat blankly, so I asked them to think about jazz music and jazz players. "Do jazz musicians usually follow the notes on the page?" I asked. One of the students responded in the negative, explaining that jazz musicians are known for their improvisations. I followed up with, "Does this quality make them more likely to follow the crowd or to live like distinctive individuals?" This one was easy--clearly, jazz musicians like to go their own way. Then I asked, "In communism, do you want people to follow a uniform path or to improvise?" Now the light bulbs were coming on all over the room. Art reminds people that they are uniquely created individuals, that they are not designed to be state-controlled robots.