Re: Teachers vs. Students and Schooling


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Posted by Frank Gazda on May 14, 2003 at 14:43:52:

In Reply to: Teachers vs. Students and Schooling posted by serious question on May 13, 2003 at 21:29:53:

What we have to understand is that it's possible to be "good" without being "great". Take the 100 "best" tuba players to graduate over the last 5 years. Compare them to the 100 "best" players to graduate from any 5 year period in the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's. The new crowd will be hands down the most accomplished (not to say that there weren't players from each of those decades that would make or even top the list, but for top - to bottom quality, I think that there is no contest). So when teachers tell these 100 students that they sound good, are they wrong because only 5 of them (at most) will win a living wage position?

Now, there are schools and teachers that inflate their students expectations, but there are also schools and teachers that crush students hopes and dreams. 2 trombonists that I can think of off the top of my head were both told "get out, you'll never make it", and they both now have jobs in major symphony orchestras.

Ultimately, it is the teachers responsibility to let the students know how competitive it is out there and how hard they'll have to work, but every student does not aspire to sit in the CSO, and to discourage all but the "best" students from pursuing music is not teaching, anymore than telling every student that they are ready for the CSO is. You have to work with what the students goals are, turning out a good tuba player who becomes a successful band director, or freelancer, or systems analyst who loves music is not a failure on either the teachers or the students part.

Finally, just because only 1 runner from the dozens of college track programs wins an Olympic medal, does that mean that all of the other coaches are lackluster and don't really know their jobs?

Frank Gazda


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