Re: Gross injustices


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Posted by js (Don't read - too long.) on November 25, 2001 at 22:36:35:

In Reply to: Gross injustices posted by College Professor on November 25, 2001 at 19:48:02:

As a former "college teacher", I don't think that there are ANY, because EVERYTHING that college students are required to do is listed in their (year-dated / year-protected) catalog ("contract"), which students are implored to peruse prior to their initial enrollment.

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HOWEVER, (at least at a university local to me) wind instrument education majors are REQUIRED to be in the marching band for two years (whether or not they are on a *marching band scholarship). This is not required of keyboard, string, nor vocal majors, though clearly the keyboard majors could bang on an army of sideline xylophones, the string majors could march around with radio-transmitting electric bass guitars, and the vocal majors could...

...could...

...could...well SURELY they could do SOMETHING! ;^/

(Sorry for the dumb jokes, but) Is it the job of a university to perpetuate the spectacle of the "marching band" thing (Why not marching chorus, marching orchestra, marching organists, marching sociologists, etc.?) Of course, the whole spectator sport thing with the drums beating and the horns blowing in the back(fore?)ground plays to military instincts, but then, does the university need to play up these behavioral tendencies just because it is traditional?

University wind and percussion students, for the most part, have not mastered their instruments, yet are encouraged to devote two to three hundred hours each year that they are enrolled in school towards the marching band spectacle - an endeavor which (clearly, at least in my view) does not lead them further towards mastery.

Other majors are required to be in laboratories, and the like. In laboratories, those majors are LEARNING.

While being scolded through a 1000-W P.A. system, university marching band participants might possibly be "learning" great "locational" attention to detail, but they are also (often) learning contempt for their leader, which they may well pass on to their future students.

Finally, only HIGH SCHOOL band directors who are REQUIRED TO or WANT TO have marching bands will find the university marching band experience to be of use in any educational sense. Middle school directors (unless they are incredibly educationally negligent) will not find marching band techniques to be of any use, and nor will high school band directors who have the freedom and desire to see JUST HOW WELL they can teach their students to actually PLAY MUSIC ON INSTRUMENTS.

I've typed a lot of crap here...

...The main thing to keep in perspective (Review paragraph #1, please) is that our standard of living and lifestyle are REMARKABLE to the point of being remote. The VAST majority of people in this world wake up every day with the goal of SURVIVAL. We wake up each day with OPTIONS. This being the case, NO college music major suffers any real "abuse" at the hands of their instructors. Certainly (as everywhere) incredible amounts of educational INEFFICIENCY are exhibited by students and sometimes by their professors, but no real "abuse", as students are allowed to walk away whenever they choose to do so. Further, students are allowed to TELL OTHERS of any "injustices" that they perceive (though I wouldn't recommend this very often, considering that these students are most often viewing the world with 18-year-old minds).

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footnote:

*Not every university offers "marching band scholarships". At least, at this particular university when they REQUIRE wind instrument music education majors to be in marching band for two years, they often cover most, if not all, of their tuition.


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