Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: question from a non-tubist


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Posted by Joe Baker on August 13, 2001 at 18:07:06:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: question from a non-tubist posted by Jay Bertolet on August 12, 2001 at 07:48:27:

Jay, with great respect for your accomplishments, I believe your position may color your view of the role of band and music departments in government (i.e. taxpayer funded) schools. If the district has the wherewithall to have programs for the truly gifted, I say that's GREAT; but I just can't see limiting 'special' students in the way you advocate. To carry your logic to an extreme, children should never just run around on the playground, because some of them might have the potential to be great athletes, and they might fall off of a swing and end that potential. No, the world was never changed by the well-rounded; but the world is SUSTAINED by the well-rounded, until the odd-ball genius comes along to inch us along toward being a better (or worse) world. The school owes the average kid a comprehensible music education as much as it owes the prodigy a comprehensive one. And we must acknowledge that there are MANY more average kids than there are prodigies. (Just a moment while I duck into a flame-proof bunker...) Not everything that is worthwhile is rightly provided by taxpayer money. Sometimes, parents must find a way to pay for certain parts of their children's development, either from their own funds or through scholarship money.

To directly address the question of whether 'special' students should skip 'normal' activities because they are special, my boss provides an interesting case history. He was a promising hockey player, playing in Jr. league in Canada (that's kind of like the minors, for those who don't know - like I didn't until he became my boss!) Anyway, living in some of the best ski country on this continent for his whole life, he NEVER ONCE WENT SKIING because his coaches were afraid he'd hurt his hockey chances. Well, he didn't make the big-time, and he paid a dear price in experiences missed. I'm not saying I think students should be forced to march; I really don't care. I just think we make too big a deal of it when we insinuate that it 'could' ruin his chances of making it as a pro. Heck, riding home on the school bus could ruin those chances if the bus overturns and crunches our Jr. genius' face. Any activity could end a person's ability to perform on some given instrument. But musical genius is not in the lips, not in the abdomen, but in the mind and perhaps the soul. It could not be destroyed by the wearing of ugly shoes and the playing of a few marches.

Joe Baker, whose opinions are based on his own *very* special children.





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