Classical music is vital to a child's musical development. The intricacies and sheer beauty of classical music will open up an entire world of musical blends that involve more than three repeating chords. It saddens me that young people think that classical music was written by the Beatles or Led Zeppelin (that's classic ROCK, kids, not Classical Music). How many know that the Father of Music was Johann Sebastian Bach?

There seems to be a very disturbing trend to ignore historical events, whether it be in music, politics, or societies and allowing children to pick their own curriculum. It's not feasible that they would want to learn about classical music and musicians if they have never heard it.

Was the life of Tupak Shakur more tragic than that of Robert Schumann who spent his final days in an insane asylum? Do they know that Mozart wrote one of his finest works as he lay dying? Or that the woeful compositions of Chopin were the result of his tortured mind and body?

"Will some of the more aggressive forms of rap one day be considered "classical"?" Hopefully not in my lifetime.

I think when learning to play an instrument, learning classical music is vital. All the techniques that you need to know to play an instrument are seen in these pieces. When I was young and started to play the piano, I had to practice different exercises, many of which led into works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Berlioz. Now that answer is from the point of view of learning to play an instrument. If just considering this question from the point of view of exposing a child to the music just to listen to, I still think it's a good idea to expose children to it. As you mentioned you went to orchestral concerts as a child, I think that's a great place to start with children. At such a concert, one will see almost all of the classic musical instruments before played to create a beautiful piece of music. It will give the child a great understanding of how music came about and really how other forms of music branched out from the traditional classial music.

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I think learning about classical music is fairly important. Many people feel that learning Shakespeare as part of an English course is vital. If that's the case, then I can't see why learning about classical music can be any less important. That said, other people wonder whether we need to focus on classic music and classic literature quite as much as we do. If you spend too much time focused on the classical arts, there is less time to learn about other time periods. In high school, I once went against a teacher's orders and did a project on Timbaland (a rap producer). After my presentation, he thanked me for filling in some of the knowledge that otherwise would have been missed. I'm not against learning classical music, but I think it's important that a child's education be well rounded.

Well it depends on family values and culture. Kids if showing interest in classical music and obviously it is better option. And kids interest is developed through awareness about classical music and again this is done if family has some type of engagement with classical music.